Clintons to testify re Epstein

Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed on Monday to testify in the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, capitulating to the demands of its Republican chairman days before the House was expected to vote to hold them in criminal contempt of Congress.

[...]

[A]fter some Democrats on the panel joined Republicans in a vote to recommend charging them with criminal contempt, an extraordinary first step in referring them to the Justice Department for prosecution, the Clintons ultimately waved the white flag and agreed to fully comply.

[...]

“They negotiated in good faith. You did not,” spokesmen for the Clintons said in a statement. “They told under oath what they know, but you did not care. But the former president and former secretary of state will be there.”

  NYT

I hope Bill doesn't take the 5th too often. And that he drops names.

Fani Willis v Jim Jordan

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee has opened a congressional investigation into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

[...]

The committee sent a letter to Willis on Thursday asking whether she communicated or coordinated with the Justice Department, who has indicted Trump twice on two separate cases, or used federal dollars to complete her investigation that culminated in the fourth indictment of Trump. The questions from Republicans about whether Willis used federal funding in her state-level investigation mirrors the same line of inquiry that Republicans used to probe Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who indicted Trump in New York earlier this year for falsifying business records to cover up an alleged hush money scheme.

[...]

Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, laid out why he believes his panel has jurisdiction over the state-level probe and accused Willis of being politically motivated, noting she set up a new campaign fundraising website days before the indictment came down and complained that she required mugshots for those charged – including Trump – which had not been the practice in his previous three indictments.

[...]

Willis has previously denied that she coordinated with Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office and has consistently defended her investigation against accusations that it was politically motivated.

[...]

Jordan gave Willis a September 7 deadline to hand over any documents or communication related to their request.

[...]

Meanwhile, Georgia Republicans could launch their own state-level investigation into Willis’ probe, according to GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has spoken to top officials in the state about a potential probe. She also told CNN earlier this week that she was pushing for a congressional-led inquiry into Willis.

  CNN

Willis delivered a scathing response to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan’s demands for information about her investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, slamming the Republican for trying to “interfere with an active criminal case,” according to a new letter issued on Thursday.

[...]

Dismissing Jordan’s requests for a broad array of documents pertaining to her investigation, Willis argued Congress does not have the jurisdiction to seek information about her ongoing criminal investigation.

“Your letter seeks the revelation of non-public and privileged information concerning my office’s investigation and prosecution of a specific case,” Willis wrote. “Your job description as a legislator does not include criminal law enforcement, nor does it include supervising a specific criminal trial because you believe that doing so will promote your partisan political objectives.”

Willis did voluntarily provide information about the federal funds her office receives. She said her office has received more than $14 million in federal grants for a variety of programs, including addressing violent crime, at-risk youth and domestic violence.

[...]

“If you and your colleagues follow through on your threats to deny this office federal funds, please be aware that you will be deciding to allow serial rapists to go unprosecuted, hate crimes to be unaddressed and to cancel programs for at-risk children,” Willis wrote. “Such vengeful, uncalled for legislative action would impose serious harm on the citizens we serve, including the fact that it will make them less safe.”

  CNN

Some day in some distant future, when our descendants can look back on this political era and laugh themselves silly, this will be reckoned as one of the most remarkable public documents of our time. [...] Jordan [is] presently running a protection racket in the House of Representatives to keep Inmate No. P01135809 from changing his name to a number permanently. [...] Finally, Willis found herself on the other side of the International Fck Off Line and wrote Jordan a letter. She then tied it to a brick and threw it through his window.

[...]

Chairman Jordan, I tell people often “deal with reality or reality will deal with you.” It is time that you deal with some basic realities. A Special Purpose Grand Jury made up of everyday citizens investigated for 10 months and made recommendations to me. A further reality is that a grand jury of completely different Fulton County citizens found probable cause against the defendants named in the indictment for RICO violations and various other felonies.

[...]

Your letter makes clear that you lack a basic understanding of the law, its practice, and the ethical obligations of attorneys generally and prosecutors specifically.

[...]

As it seems you have a personal interest in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, you should consider directing the USDOJ to investigate the racist threats that have come to my staff and me because of this investigation. For your information, I am attaching ten examples of threats this office has received.

I am providing these examples to give you a window into what has happened to my staff and me as I keep the promise of my oath to the United States and Georgia Constitutions and do not allow myself to be bullied and threatened by Members of Congress, local elected officials, or others who believe lady justice should not be blind and that America has different laws for different citizens.

I admit, I didn't think there were quite as many ways to tell somebody to fck off as Willis finds in her letter. It's important to remember at this point that Judiciary Chairman Jordan is not a lawyer. But, if he's not careful, he's going to need more than one.

  Charlie Pierce

The letter.

NB:  "Those who wish to avoid felony charges in Fulton County, Georgia — including violations of Georgia RICO law — should not commit felonies in Fulton County, Georgia."   --  Willis letter

 PS.  I also like this bit...

Boebert fails again

They never seem to get tired of being unprepared for their absurd hearings.  When all you want is angry clips for Fox News, it usually doesn't matter.  But what the fuck, Lauren?  Did you do ANY research? Rhetorical question.  The answer is obvious.

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

And good on Alvin Bragg (in this case anyway)

It was stupid for Jim Jordan to take this route, but then, Jim Jordan is fairly stupid.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office on Thursday rebuked a request from top House Republicans for testimony and documents about his investigation into former President Trump.

[...]

In a letter to Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wisc.), Bragg’s general counsel Leslie Dubeck said the GOP request is “an unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution.”

“The Letter only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene,” she wrote. “Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry.”

[...]

1. The letter seeks “non-public information about a pending criminal investigation, which is confidential under state law.”

2. The requests are an “unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty” under the Tenth Amendment, which is understood to prevent congressional inquiries into matters delegated to the states.

3. Congress is “not the appropriate branch” to review a pending criminal case. Instead, Dubeck wrote, the courts are the “proper forum” for a challenge.

4.Requests for information about the use of federal funding are “an insufficient basis to justify these unconstitutional requests.”

[...]

Dubeck said they would be willing to “meet and confer to understand whether the Committee has any legitimate legislative purpose in the requested materials that could be accommodated without impeding [New York’s sovereign police power].”

She also said the DA’s office is “preparing and will submit a letter describing its use of federal funds.”

“Alvin Bragg should focus on prosecuting actual criminals in New York City rather than harassing a political opponent in another state,” the House Judiciary Committee GOP tweeted after the release of the letter.

  Axios

Stupid. Prosecuting a New York City criminal is exactly what he's doing. The criminal happens to live in Florida now.

Read the full 5-page letter here.  

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

This is what the Republicans are doing with their time

FFS.

House Republicans are creating a committee to "reinvestigate" the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

More than two months after the historic House Jan. 6 select committee disbanded and published its final report on the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, House Republicans are launching their own review of the Capitol riot.

They plan to emphasize a different focus Jan. 6 with their panel. And the Georgia Republican who will chair the new panel is using the phrases "investigate both sides" and "show what really happened on Jan. 6" to describe the committee's work.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, Republican of Georgia, and chairman of the House Administration subcommittee on Oversight, said his panel will "aggressively" work to review the security failures that contributed to the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6, and will investigate the conduct and performance of the prior House Jan. 6 select committee, which gathered millions of pages of documents and hundreds of interviews in 2021 and 2022, including with key members of the Trump inner circle.

[...]

Other congressional panels and government auditors have already conducted investigations and released reports into security and intelligence failures, including a series of reviews by the Government Accountability Office and a report by the Senate Homeland Security committee.

[...]

Loudermilk said his new subcommittee is reviewing two million pages of documents compiled by the House Jan. 6 select panel.

[...]

Loudermilk said his panel is also reviewing some of the 40,000 hours of police videos, the same tranche of footage that Speaker Kevin McCarthy recently provided exclusively to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

  CBS

And Tucker hasn't even come up with anything to counter the Jan 6 report.

"What I'd like to do is show what really happened on Jan. 6," Loudermilk said. "When asked by CBS News what he meant by the phrase "what really happened," he responded, "Where was the security failure and why were we not ready?"

Ready for what? For tourists? Which is it: peaceful tourists or insurrectionist rioters?

"It's unfortunate that this has become a political theater for them," Torres said. "For them, it is a show. They want a different ending to the movie, to the horror show."

And do they think bringing it all out again is going to help them win over any voters?

[Loudermilk] told CBS News, "Americans have very little confidence in the report that they put out. And there's good reason. I mean, you even consider what they did to me, the false allegations that they made against me regarding the constituents that I had in my office in the office buildings — accusing me of giving reconnaissance tours."

[...]

Loudermilk said his panel would "be honest, show the truth, show both sides." When pressed by CBS News about how Jan. 6 had "two sides," Loudermilk reiterated his criticism about the scrutiny he was given for the tour group by the Jan. 6 select committee.

Ah, I see. It's all about Laudermilk's feelings. Jesus wept.

No public hearings of the new subcommittee have been announced. But unlike the original Jan. 6 select committee, the minority party will not boycott the new subcommittee's hearings and proceedings.

No, I'm sure they don't want public hearings.  They just want some things to cherry pick out and write up.  Or at least Laudermilk wants something on the record to make himself look better.

Fucking waste of taxpayer money. Not to mention the opportunity cost of preventing actual necessary congressional work to be done.

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

He'll get by with a little help from his friends

House Republicans have quietly halted a congressional investigation into whether Donald J. Trump profited improperly from the presidency, declining to enforce a court-supervised settlement agreement that demanded that Mazars USA, his former accounting firm, produce his financial records to Congress.

  NYT

That shouldn't be permissible.

Democrats fought in court for years to get financial documents from Mr. Trump’s former accounting firm, and only last year — after entering into a court-ordered settlement — began receiving the documents and gaining new insights into how foreign governments sought influence using the Trump International Hotel.

[...]

Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky and the chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, made clear he had abandoned any investigation into the former president’s financial dealings — professing ignorance about the inquiry Democrats opened when they controlled the House — and was instead focusing on whether President Biden and members of his family were involved in an influence-peddling scheme.

Congress sucks. It's all bullshit, all the time. Team sports.

He confirmed the end to the inquiry into Mr. Trump after Democrats wrote to Mr. Comer raising concerns about the fact that Mazars, the former president’s longtime accounting firm that cut ties with him last year, had stopped turning over documents related to his financial dealings. The top Democrat on the panel suggested that Mr. Comer had worked with Mr. Trump’s lawyers to effectively kill the investigation, an accusation the chairman denied.

[...]

“I honestly didn’t even know who or what Mazars was,” said Mr. Comer, who was the senior Republican on the oversight panel during the last Congress, while Democrats waged a lengthy legal fight over obtaining documents from the firm.

A lie, of course. And if it weren't, then he should be drummed out of Congress for being an idiot.

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

Democrats seem to be taking to Republic manners in Congress

See previous post, and add these:

No more Mr. Nice Guy.

Hoist with their own petard

Once again, a self-own by the ridiculous GOP "investigations".

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

UPDATE 03/01/2023:

Wow.

UPDATE 01:21 pm:

UPDATE 02:13 pm:

Cue MAGA: Political witch hunt!

The January 6 Committee vs the DOJ

I read and hear a lot of worrying about the question of whether the DOJ is actually investigating anyone in the Trump administration or the GOP congress regarding organizing and inciting the January 6 insurrection. Considering the dangers of interference, I wonder if the DOJ might simply be waiting for the January 6 House investigation to complete and present its work to the American public. Here's why...

[D]efense attorney and well-respected former House general counsel Stanley Brand told the New York Times about the Jan. 6 select committee: “Having lived through and being a part of every major congressional investigation of the past 50 years from Iran-contra to Whitewater to everything else, this is the mother of all investigations and a quantum leap for Congress in a way I’ve never seen before.”

[...]

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) just had a very telling little meltdown on Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle,” ranting against the make-up of the House Jan. 6 select committee staff. His big concern? The committee has brought in too many former prosecutors. This is not a criminal investigation, he says.

Jordan’s criticism is both irrelevant and ignorant; perhaps, more generously, he’s playing provocateur.

The committee has staffed up with 14 or so ex-prosecutors because: a) the task is vast; b) they have the resources to hire well-trained lawyers who have handled complex federal cases; and c) typical congressional staffers just can’t handle such a colossal undertaking. In other words, Jordan and other Trump World lackeys are facing their worst possible nightmare in the mother of all congressional investigations.

[...]

In addition to hiring investigators, [past] select committees always brought in outside legal talent, usually on loan from major law firms. Michael Chertoff was brought in by Chairman Alphonse D’Amato (R-N.Y.) for the Whitewater investigation; Chairman John F. Kerry (D-Mass) of the Senate POW/MIA committee brought in Boston lawyer Bill Codinha, and so on. They brought in other attorneys as well.

But not 14 of them.

  The Hill

Those 14 ex-prosecutors can be doing a lot of work the DOJ can use in potential future charges.  Anyway, I hope to God the DOJ is or plans to investigate those at the top of an attempt to overthrow the government. Jim Jordan is one of those.

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

UPDATE:  In numbers...

Political persecution!

Or maybe about effing time they got serious about Trump's presdiency. He's been criming his whole life and then squealing about being persecuted when someone actually takes it seriously.

A United States House of Representatives committee has launched an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s handling of White House records after 15 boxes of official documents were retrieved from his private Florida property.

The probe, announced by House oversight committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney on Thursday, comes after a string of reports detailing Trump’s mishandling of documents in apparent violation of the law.

[...]

A separate House panel is investigating Trump’s finances and business dealings.

[...]

In February, the Washington Post reported on Trump’s practice of shredding various documents, both sensitive and inconsequential, that extended throughout his four years in office.

The practice was so common during Trump’s presidency that staffers came up with a contingency plans – collecting the shredded papers and taping them back together – to try to prevent the president from breaking the law.

[...]

Meanwhile, New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, in a preview of a new book, reported that staffers regularly found wads of printed paper clogging a toilet in the White House. The staffers believed Trump had flushed the papers.

  alJazeera

Those are the ones we needed to see.

On Wednesday, the New York Times reported the National Archives found possibly classified information within the retrieved documents, and reached out to the Department of Justice to examine the matter.

It should disturb us all that the Trump family ever had access to classified information.

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

UPDATE:

UPDATE:

Collecting the receipts

UPDATE:

Follow Scott MacFarlane

Agencies are also asked to relay “all documents and communications related to the mental stability of Donald Trump or his fitness for office” following Jan. 6, when a mob of the Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.

The documents, if provided, could offer new insight into whether former Vice President Pence and Trump’s Cabinet members were considering taking action following numerous reports that administration officials were considering invoking the 25th Amendment during Trump’s last two weeks in office.

During that period, the House passed a symbolic measure encouraging Pence to invoke the amendment. Pence responded at the time by saying he did not believe “such a course of action is in the best interest of our nation.”

[...]

The committee also appears to be searching for any resistance Trump may have faced near the end of his administration, asking numerous agencies for communications “relating to defying orders from the president.”

  The Hill

Judge rules Trump tax returns must be turned over to House committee

A federal judge has ruled that former President Donald Trump’s accountants must turn over two years’ worth of his tax and financial records to a House committee investigating whether Trump and his businesses profited from his service in the White House.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on Wednesday approved a House Oversight Committee subpoena for Trump’s records covering 2017 and 2018, but turned down most of the panel’s request for similar information dating back to 2011.

  Politico

Don't look for Trump to just hand them over.

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

One baby step

The US Department of Justice on Friday ordered the Internal Revenue Service to hand Donald Trump’s tax returns to a House committee, saying the panel had “invoked sufficient reasons” for requesting them.

The news was a second blow for Trump in a matter of hours, after released DoJ memos revealed that as part of his campaign to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden, he pressured top officials to falsely label the 2020 election as corrupt, then “leave the rest to me”.

[...]

“Access to former President Trump’s tax returns is a matter of national security. The American people deserve to know the facts of his troubling conflicts of interest and undermining of our security and democracy as president.” [-- Nancy Pelosi]

[...]

Bill Pascrell, a New Jersey Democrat who chairs the House ways and means subcommittee on oversight, said: “It is about damn time. Our committee first sought Donald Trump’s tax returns on 3 April 2019 – 849 days ago. Our request was made in full accordance with the law and pursuant to Congress’s constitutional oversight powers.”

[...]

Michael Stern, a former senior counsel for the House Office of General Counsel, told Politico Trump had options to stop the release of his returns.

“I think Trump will be given an opportunity to either file a new case or file something in this case in which he states his legal grounds for objecting to his tax returns being produced,” he said, adding: “It’s definitely not over yet.”

  Guardian

Christ.

Elsewhere, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr, has obtained copies of Trump’s personal and business tax records as part of a criminal investigation.

Let's move that along, Cy.

Anyway, I don't expect anything more than embarrassment to Trump in the returns, but I hope I'm wrong.

It's about time

UPDATE:

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:

House Ethics Committee to investigate Gaetz

The House Ethics Committee announced Friday it has launched an investigation into alleged misconduct by U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz following a recent flurry of accusations against the Florida congressman, including illegal drug use and sexual misconduct.

"The Committee is aware of public allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct," the panel's chairman, Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., and ranking member, Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., said in a joint written statement.

The statement noted that the existence of the investigation "does not indicate that any violation has occurred."

  NPR

They took their sweet time to open an investigation.

Just checking

 [...] 

 [...] 

 [...] 

Full letter.

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

USPS testimony ahead

In addition to the jackwad Trump appointed to run the USPS...

David Williams, who resigned in April as vice chair of the USPS Board of Governors, is scheduled to give a private briefing to a group of House Democrats on Thursday.

[...]

Williams, who will appear before the House Progressive Caucus, had stepped down amid what he considered President Donald Trump’s undue influence over the USPS independent Board of Governors and the process of selecting the new postmaster general.

[...]

Williams, a former Postal Service inspector general with a long career in public service and government oversight, could help Democrats seeking answers about how Louis DeJoy, a prolific Republican fundraiser and Trump campaign donor, was chosen to be Postmaster General. DeJoy’s financial disclosures also raise questions about potential conflicts of interest.

[...]

DeJoy’s tenure has coincided with a slowdown in mail service and widespread operational problems.

[...]

Williams issued his resignation days before DeJoy was named to the position in May. His briefing with the Democrats will take place ahead of a House Oversight Committee hearing on the Postal Service next week where DeJoy is scheduled to appear.

[...]

The board is supposed to consist of nine members, but only six of the slots are currently filled and all of them by Trump appointees — two Democrats and four Republicans. Two of the three unfilled spots are Democratic positions.

Democrats are stepping up their scrutiny of the board itself, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sending a letter reminding members that they have the authority to reverse decisions by the Postmaster General.

  NBC