The impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump is taking so many twists and turns by the day, it’s hard to keep up. So, let’s take a look at the latest impeachment roundup news.
Impeachment Roundup: AUSTRALIAN PM
As if Trump’s Ukranian troubles weren’t already enough, word out of Washington is that ‘The Donald’ has used his position of power for political revenge more than just this once.
According to NBC News, Trump recently asked Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to help him look into the origins of the FBI’s Russia investigation. Apparently, Trump wanted to find dirt that would strangle the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
If this tidbit is true, Trump has some major double-trouble ahead.
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MITCH McCONNELL SURPRISE
When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched the Trump impeachment inquiry last week, political pundits instantly presumed that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would squash the inquiry before it ever reached the upper chamber of Congress.
However, on Monday, Sen. McConnell surprised everyone by announcing that he would “have no choice” but to take up impeachment proceedings if a majority of the House of Representatives approved articles of impeachment.
During an interview on CNBC, McConnell, who coddles and protects Trump 99.9% of the time, stated that the rules are clear and that the Senate cannot ignore a House vote to impeach Trump or any president.
“I would have no choice but to take it up,” McConnell said. “How long you’re on it is a whole different matter, but I would have no choice but to take it up, based on a Senate rule on impeachment.”
Granted, McConnell could do everything within his power to fast-track the trial through the Senate. However, with 47% of Republicans now saying they are in favor of a Trump impeachment, McConnell and his GOP cronies might be left with no other choice but to allow the process to play out.
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Impeachment Roundup: SEN. GRASSLEY
In yet another impeachment surprise, one of the longest-serving and most revered Republican senators joined a few of his colleagues to break rank with Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa debunked ‘The Donald’s’ lame defense that the whistleblower’s claims are invalid because the information came secondhand.
“This person appears to have followed the whistleblower protection laws and ought to be heard out and protected,” Grassley, who has made a career of protecting whistleblowers, said. “We should always work to respect whistleblowers. Complaints based on second-hand information should not be rejected out of hand, but they do require additional leg work to get at the facts and evaluate the claim’s credibility.”
Hmmm…interesting!
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TRUMP vs. WHISTLEBLOWER
Sen. Grassley’s defense of the whistleblower couldn’t have been more timely since Donald Trump has placed a bullseye on the still-anonymous whistleblower’s back and made him/her out to be a villain.
Even though Trump doesn’t know the identity of the whistleblower, that didn’t stop him from turning his base against the unknown American who merely (and correctly) followed the law.
During a segment on Fox News, Geraldo Rivera called the whistleblower a “dirty rat” who he’d like to punch, while various news agencies reported that the whistleblower has been the target of death threats and fears for his/her own safety.
However, in a wild turn of events, the New York Times is reporting that Donald Trump wants to “interview” the whistleblower, whom he refers to as “the person who gave all of the false information to (sic) him.”
Trump later tweeted: “Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser.”
Perhaps Trump’s personal attorney and first-class flunkie, Rudy Giuliani, should inform him that not only does the law protect the identity of the whistleblower from disclosure and retaliation, but even the suggestion of the accusee “interviewing” the accuser prior to trial is a little something known as WITNESS TAMPERING.
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TRUMP’S BORDER PLAN
If anyone was at all concerned about Trump’s mental state during this impeachment inquiry, CNN provided some insight by reporting on Tuesday that a mentally unstable Donald Trump has regularly presented his staff with all sorts of outlandish and illegal ideas that they were forced to find creative ways to shoot down.
One such idea involved shooting migrants in the leg in order to slow them down after they crossed the border. Another was to place alligators and snakes in a moat along the border in order to poison and/or kill immigrants before they could step foot on US soil.
“You are making me look like an idiot!” Trump shouted during the meeting to those who dared to dampen his bright ideas. “I ran on this. It’s my issue,” he added in a profanity-laced tirade.
In light of this new information, if it were not for the current impeachment inquiry it would be time for Mike Pence and members of the Trump administration to invoke the 25th Amendment.
It’s funny DJ because just yesterday I said to my cousin that I sense the tide may finally be turning against Trump, especially among many of the people who voted for him but now regret their vote. Last week I shared that I had listened to C-SPAN’s 1 hour call-in program, Washington Journal, and almost 10-to-1 callers expressed growing anger and frustration with Trump, and just want him gone…even the callers who voted for him. Since around 2003, I’ve been visiting a few of the popular conservative right-wing sites (the reputable sites NOT the real crazies) just to get a sense of where their (readers of those sites) heads are at. What they’re thinking. Yesterday I visited The Resurgent (run by *Erick Erickson). Two days ago Erick’s post (“There Won’t Be Civil War and Claiming Otherwise Increasing the Chances of Impeachment”) got quite the response from his readers. Suffice it… Read more »