Jan 6 hearing #2 highlights

Yes, and I think THAT's why he doesn't want to watch.

Trump 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien's testimony was cancelled today due to family emergency. Reportedly, his wife went into labor.  No matter, the Committee had video clips.  I thought this hearing was more watchable than the first one and should have been held in prime time.

Excerpts from today's hearing:

Fox News analyst Chris Stirewalt on election night voting:

Most of the first hour of today's hearing was about the many, many failed efforts to try to get Trump to give up the big lie.

As I alluded to previously, Rudy should probably have his passport revoked.

This is why they're now just going to get people elected in state positions that have the power to hand in alternate slates of electors or declare votes invalid.

The second hour was used to talk about the vote count and the Trump/allies 61 failed lawsuits to have the election declared fraudulent.

Congresswoman Lofgren noted that Trump collected millions in donations to cover legal expenses fighting the election outcome in court, but that the money didn't go to that purpose.

"The big lie was also a big ripoff."  -- Committee member Zoe Lofgren

Money was collected to pay for lawsuits by email requests under the banner of the Official Election Defense Fund.  There was no Official Election Defense Fund.

Note the word "potentially".

Actual donations went through the Save America PAC to the following:

$1 million to the Conservative Partnership Institute

$1 million to the America First Policity Institute

$204,857 to the Trump Hotel Collection

$5 million to Event Strategies, Inc.

(Event Strategies, Inc:  "ESI personnel largely managed and staffed the 130-person operations team for Donald Trump and Mike Pence."  source)

The entire Trump presidency was a grift.

And is this not wire fraud?

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

UPDATE:

Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance:

UPDATE:

Previous hearing

Next hearing

House Committee issues more subpoenas

The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack has issued subpoenas to six of Donald Trump’s associates involved in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election from a “command center” at the Willard Hotel in Washington DC [- egal scholar John Eastman, Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien, Trump’s adviser Jason Miller, the former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Trump’s campaign aide Angela McCallum, and the former New York police department commissioner Bernard Kerik].

[...]

The select committee chairman, Bennie Thompson, said in a statement that the panel was pursuing the Trump officials in order to uncover “every detail about their efforts to overturn the election, including who they were talking to in the White House and in Congress”.

[...]

House investigators are taking a special interest in Eastman after it emerged that he outlined scenarios for overturning the election in a memo for a 4 January White House meeting that included Trump, the former vice-president Mike Pence and Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

At the meeting, according to a source close to Trump, Eastman ran through the memo that detailed how Pence might refuse to certify electoral slates for Biden on 6 January and thereby unilaterally hand Trump a second term.

[...]

In the letters accompanying the six subpoenas, Thompson said Eastman was compelled to produce documents by 22 November and appear for a deposition on 8 December. The other Trump officials have until 23 November to produce documents and have deposition dates later in December.

[...]

The pro-Trump legal scholar also pressured nearly 300 state legislators to challenge the legitimacy of Biden’s win, reportedly participated at a “war room” meeting at the Willard on 5 January and spoke at a rally before the Capitol attack, the select committee said.

[...]

At that meeting, the select committee said, Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon and Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani discussed how to subvert the election by having Pence follow Eastman’s memo and not certify the election for Biden.

[...]

The select committee was expected to send further subpoenas to Trump officials connected to activities at the Willard, the source said, noting that Thompson had told reporters last week that he had signed about 20 subpoenas that were ready to be issued.

  Guardian

Maybe Giuliani is in that batch.

Let's see how many of them pull a Steve Bannon.  And by the way...how's that going? Apparently we're waiting for the DC US Attorney to decide whether to charge Bannon after the committee referred him for contempt.

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

UPDATE:

UPDATE 11/10:

Sad

Since Election Day, many Trump campaign staffers have been huddled on a noisy floor in the campaign's Arlington, Virginia, headquarters fielding hundreds of calls a day on a hotline the campaign set up as they try to find instances of voter fraud, multiple sources told ABC News.

But the hotline has turned into a nightmare for some, as staffers, some of whom have contracts that expire in the coming days, have been bombarded with prank calls from people laughing or mocking them over Biden's win before hanging up, sources tell ABC News. Prank calling the Trump campaign's hotline has already become a trend on TikTok, the social media network that was used earlier in the year in an attempt to tank the president's rally in Tulsa by mass-requesting tickets.

  ABC

He is REALLY going to go after TikTok now.

The campaign has been aggressively raising money to fund its ongoing legal efforts, blasting dozens of texts and emails to supporters each day. But according to the fine print on the donations page, 60% of the funds raised will go to paying down the campaign's debt.

[...]

"At a moment's instance we may need your help at protests in your state to make sure that the president is represented and our side of the argument is shown," [Bill Stepien, who took over as campaign manager back in July] said." At a moment's notice, we may need your help and support on the ground, you know, waving the flag and yelling the president's name and support."

[...]

"This is not a fundraising solicitation, I want to be super clear, this is an update call to make sure you know exactly where we are in the campaign ... but if anyone wants to contribute to the Legal Defense Fund, you can go to DonaldTrump.com," Stepien said.

How stupid are they?

Nothing like whining while telegraphing the points you intend to make in an upcoming debate.

Joe's team now knows what specific points Trump will make so they can prep him.  Thanks, Bill.

The Commission says it's not rule changes, just rule enforcement.  That's completely fair.

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

And they just keep on coming

Looks like that Rose Garden SCOTUS nomination ceremony was a superspreader.

In addition to POTUS and FLOTUS, Thom Tillis and Mike Lee, Kellyanne Conway tested positive.  Also, Notre Dame president John Jenkins and an unnamed White House correspondent.

So far, everybody's claiming their symptoms are mild.

I'm waiting for nominee Amy Coney Barrett to test positive.  And Bill Barr.

Numbskulls.

I hope all those seven kids of Barrett's who were there don't get the virus.

Also...have they always done big nominating ceremonies?

UPDATE: Add Bill Stepien

UPDATE:  Apparently, Barrett HAD Covid-19 this summer.  Maybe SHE's typhoid Amy. That would be rich. Or one of her kids or her husband is asymptomatic. Let's get those people tested.

After Tulsa, if Parscale didn't see this coming, he's a bigger idiot than we thought

President Donald Trump shook up his campaign leadership on Wednesday, announcing he was promoting Bill Stepien to be his campaign manager and demoting Brad Parscale.

[...]

Parscale had been lauded by the President and his allies as a digital guru who helped secure Trump's first election effort, and he became Trump's reelection campaign manager in early 2018.

He worked for the Trump family years before Trump launched a presidential bid and ascended to a role leading the campaign's data analytics team in June 2016.

[...]

Parscale was unaware until a few hours before the Wednesday night announcement that he was being demoted, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, was the one who informed Parscale of the decision, according to a source familiar with the conversation.

[...]

"He does not like Brad," one Trump adviser said last week, noting that Trump has taken to frequently cutting Parscale off during meetings and disagreeing with nearly every position he takes, at times ultimately agreeing with the same position when it is later reiterated by another aide in the room.

"It's very clear that when Brad offers a position, Trump decides to be against it," the adviser said.

  CNN

Such a petty little bitch. Also, having Kushner deliver the news is particularly nasty since Kushner has been trying to get rid of Parscale all along.

The Trump family had become annoyed in recent weeks at reports of how much money Parscale was making in his role, including stories about his ownership of a Ferrari. Parscale, the adviser said, had been advised to lay low and stay out of the limelight, advice he apparently did not take.

[...]

Parscale was also a target of the President's frustrations in late April, when Trump was fuming about sliding poll numbers and facing an onslaught of criticism for suggesting that ingesting disinfectant might prove effective against coronavirus.

On a call, three people familiar said, Trump shouted at Parscale and berated him about the poll numbers. At one point on the call, Trump threatened to sue him.

Screaming at Parscale because of his own failure. Also typical Trump.

CNN has reached out to Parscale for comment, he has not yet responded. A source tells CNN, despite the demotion he plans to stay with the campaign.

In case you're wondering, Bill Stepien was one of Chris Christie's dirty dealers in the Bridgegate affair.  Kushner brought him on board the Trump campaign.

Didn't see this coming...or did I?

In Donald Trump’s West Wing, being a member of the Trump family has historically been the ultimate job security. But that truism is being stress-tested after a run of polls consistently show Trump losing to Joe Biden at this stage of the race—a CNN poll this morning has him down 14 points. According to a source close to the White House, Trump has mulled taking oversight of the campaign away from his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

  Vanity Fair

What??? Jared can't do EVERYTHING???

“He’s going to broom Kushner and [Brad] Parscale—the numbers are not getting better,” a Republican close to the campaign said.

Long before the reelection campaign went sideways, Trump frequently blew up at Kushner. For instance, former West Wing officials recall how Trump hated when Kushner received too much positive press (In January, Trump was rankled when Kushner’s portrait graced the cover of Time). “Any time Jared is in the papers, Trump complains, ‘We have to get Jared back to New York!’” said a Republican who heard Trump make the comment. In the end, the source cautioned that Trump won’t push Kushner out. “This is typical with him and Jared,” the source said.

They deserve each other.

Axios reported the campaign is debating whether Trump should talk about national unity.

How is that even a debate? Oh, wait. I think I know: he would be absolutely terrible at it.

Last week, Trump’s former defense secretary James Mattis released a blistering statement criticizing Trump’s use of military force to clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square so Trump could stage a photo op outside of a church. Mattis had agonized for months about whether to speak out, a person close to him told me. Mattis told people that Trump is a “proto-neofascist” but Mattis worried it would politicize the military if he denounced Trump.

[...]

Over the weekend, Trump called around to New York friends and outside advisers in hopes they would validate Trump’s belief that the polls are wrong. “He’s asking people to agree with him that the polls are biased. But no one is telling him what he wants to hear,” said a Republican briefed on the calls.

What's the matter with those people?

Republicans know how bad things are, but the party still believes sticking with Trump is the best bet for holding the Senate.

How I do hoope they are proved wrong.

Last week, Mitch McConnell told Republican senators that they couldn’t abandon Trump, according to a source.

And hopefully McConnell will lose his seat as well.

McConnell reminded Republicans that former New Hampshire senator Kelly Ayotte lost her 2016 reelection bid after breaking with Trump over the Access Hollywood video.

A lot has happened since then.

(Through a spokesperson, McConnell denied making the comment.)

Of course he did.

As he headed into Memorial Day weekend, Donald Trump complained that he was COVID-19’s biggest victim. “He was just in a fucking rage,” said a person who spoke with Trump late last week. “He was saying, ‘This is so unfair to me! Everything was going great. We were cruising to reelection!” Even as the death toll neared 100,000 and unemployment ranks swelled to over 38 million, Trump couldn’t see the pandemic as anything other than something that had happened to him. “The problem is he has no empathy,” the adviser said. Trump complained that he should have been warned about the virus sooner. “The intelligence community let me down!” he said.

  Vanity Fair

I thought they did it on purpose to try to get rid of him?

According to a Republican briefed on the campaign’s internal polls, Trump is trailing Biden by double digits among women over 50 in six swing states. “Trump knows the numbers are bad. It’s why he’s thrashing about,” the Republican said.

Looking to fire his campaign managers.

According to a source, Melania Trump warned the president during their trip to India in February to take the virus response seriously. “He totally blew her off,” the source said. Melania later told people that Trump “only hears what he wants to hear and surrounds himself with yes-people and family,” the source added.

She better be careful, or she'll find herself divorced, if not having her hair pulled out.

[T]he campaign promoted former White House political director Bill Stepien to deputy campaign manager and named Stephanie Alexander, the Midwest political director, to the post of campaign chief of staff. The moves are being seen by many in Trumpworld as a demotion for Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, who has been at odds with Trump for weeks over his spending and the president’s deteriorating poll numbers. “Trump has been screaming at Brad, ‘How many fucking times do I have to tell you I don’t like this! Are you fucking stupid?’” said a Republican who’s overheard the conversations.

As if Parscale can make Trump anything but Trump.

Stepien, a close ally of Jared Kushner, is viewed by Trump advisers as a competent tactician who can help the campaign appeal to alienated suburban voters.

[...]

The problem for Stepien, though, is that no amount of messaging or get-out-the-vote efforts can shade the reality that Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic has plunged the country into a once-in-a-century economic crisis. It’s a point Stepien tacitly made when I interviewed him before the 2018 midterms.

[...]

But the biggest obstacle standing in the way of a Trump-campaign reset is the candidate. “Trump is doing it to himself by tweeting idiotic conspiracy theories about Joe Scarborough. Women are tired of this shit,” said another former West Wing official. An outside adviser agreed. “Trump can’t pivot to a different strategy,” the adviser told me. “He only knows one strategy—which is attack. It worked in 2016. But now it’s not what people are looking for.” The adviser told me that Trump’s New York friends are planning an intervention to get him to stop tweeting about the Morning Joe cohost.

They need to stage an intervention to get him into a sanitarium.

And when he’s not feeling helpless or aggrieved, Trump continues to cling to magical thinking. “He lives in his own fucking world,” the outside adviser said.

[...]

At this point many Republicans I spoke to said the only hope for Trump is that Biden implodes.

And, unfortunately, that is certainly not out of the question.