GOP blocks probe of Mike Pence's trip to Ireland after VP spent $600,000 on limousine rides...

[babylonsister]

https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/gop-blocks-probe-of-mike-pences-trip-to-ireland-after-vp-spent-600000-on-limousine-rides-so-he-could-stay-at-trumps-resort/?fbclid=IwAR1OJ5FoK5PFr4VDEyWM8STnbsS8n9NtBEwC3B-H31oJs2LY5700RqfKswo#.XYJDRSmSdxY.facebook

GOP blocks probe of Mike Pence’s trip to Ireland after VP spent $600,000 on limousine rides so he could stay at Trump’s resort
Written by Sophia Tesfaye / Salon September 18, 2019


Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to Ireland — or more precisely his curious stay at one of President Trump’s hotels — has prompted multiple congressional probes. But the Democrat-led oversight investigations have already drawn complaints and pushback from Trump’s loudest Republican defenders on Capitol Hill, including the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.

Democrats in both the House of Representatives and Senate have sent official letters of inquiry to the vice president’s office seeking specific information on the costs of Pence’s recent stay at Trump International Golf Club in Doonbeg, Ireland. They have imposed a Sept. 19 deadline for the administration and the Trump Organization to turn over relevant documents. Democrats have raised concerns that Pence’s stay at Trump’s resort could have violated the emoluments clause in the Constitution. They’ve asked for details like the cost of the stay, Secret Service protection, and comparable rates for hotels nearby as well as across the country in Dublin, where Pence held meetings with Irish officials and business leaders.

The vice president’s decision to stay at Trump’s resort can hardly be defended as one of convenience, as Pence previously suggested. Doonbeg is in County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, nearly a four-hour drive from most of Pence’s scheduled meetings in Dublin. According to an analysis by the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Pence’s stay cost taxpayers $599,454.36 in limousine service alone.

snip//

Republicans in Congress are clearly running interference for the Trump administration on all fronts, in a fashion that goes well beyond Beltway mantras about “politics as usual.” Congress is supposed to perform critical oversight of the executive branch. Democrats haven’t directed the public into the streets over this stunning abdication of constitutional duty, which shows how ill-equipped our system is to handle outright corruption — and also how bewildered the majority party has become by this unprecedented president.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

1. GOP -- the party of assault and corruption

[Autumn]

2. Can the House do it? An open hearing on it.

[pecosbob]

3. Misleading title

GOP can't 'block' any investigations originating in the House...even if their top weinie doesn't like what's being investigated. All they can do is refuse to show up or testify.

Edit...or try to make the proceedings into a circus.

[lagomorph777]

6. +1

[gratuitous]

4. Alternet's headline doesn't quite match up with the story

I don't see where Republicans have blocked anything, and being in the minority in the House, they don't have that power at all. Yeah, Jim Jordan whined and puled about the request for information from Rep. Cummings' committee, but he can't block it. I fully expect the White House to stonewall the request, but the House GOP can go piss up a rope.

[lagomorph777]

7. +1 They would like to, but elections have consequences.

[Cracklin Charlie]

5. Good. Grief.

The law breaking is wearing me slick.

Why isn’t this over yet?

[gordianot]

9. Why? Democracy and the Republic died in America November 9, 2016.

[lagomorph777]

8. Dooshbegg will fail even harder now - it's tainted with Trump/Pence stink