January 16, 2020

Perhaps we need to flush 10-15 times to remove him?

?1579183636

January 16, 2020

Pelosi on Parnas: "Does anyone think that rogue A.G. is going to appoint a special prosecutor?

Pelosi on Parnas: "Does anyone think that the rogue A.G. is going to appoint a special prosecutor? No, because he's implicated in all of this. This is an example of all of the president's henchmen. And I hope that the senators do not become part of the president's henchmen."

Pelosi: "When I was at grade school, there was a sign on the wall ... it said, 'What a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive.' You see this more and more and more in all of this, this tangled web to deceive that the administration is engaged in."

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1217847740845232128
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1217845226120863744
https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1217845899327692801

It appears that Pelosi is playing an interesting game.

1. As we send over the impeachment papers, we are turning over the Parnas card.
2. If you don't let us have witnesses, we'll turn over another card.
3. You don't know how many cards we are holding.

4. Your turn, McConnell.

January 16, 2020

Emptywheel: (Let's be careful) Parnas is telling us what we want to hear, whether true or not.

...........

On key parts of his story, however, he got — with the help of MSNBC’s editors — notably more reserved or deceitful. We didn’t learn the full terms of his relationship with Firtash, even though Firtash is the guy paying for the defense strategy that includes telling us these stories. Parnas describes, “we were tasked” to spin these stories, leaving the subject of the tasking unknown. Parnas dubiously claims he’s sorry about targeting Marie Yovanovitch, even while he shows no remorse at similar shivs in service of the grift. Parnas claims to have been more concerned by the breakdown Robert Hyde had at Mar-a-Lago than he was about Hyde’s claims to have Yovanovitch under surveillance and possible contract.

Parnas is telling us what we want to hear, which we all recognize for the stories he spun for the frothy right resulted in false stories that nevertheless was all it took to work up half the country. We also recognize, though Parnas didn’t lay this out and it’ll take days before people have an adequate understanding of what he promised in Russian, that he made commitments on Rudy’s and Trump’s behalf but without anyway for them to verify what he was promising.

Perhaps he’s doing it to pressure Bill Barr, the one guy who can constrain what SDNY does with his prosecution, and likewise can authorize criminal targets against whom Parnas might be able to cooperate against. Perhaps he believes he’ll get immunity from Adam Schiff, though as a former prosecutor, it’s unlikely Schiff will make that happen. Perhaps Parnas believes Trump will panic and pardon him. Or perhaps all the people that Parnas has been obligating Rudy and Trump to have decided it’s worth their while to expose those obligations.

But until we understand why Parnas is doing what he’s doing — why he inserted himself into the right wing echo chamber in the first place, and why he’s so insistent on telling us what we want to hear now — we would do well to exercise caution about the stories he’s telling.

MORE:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/01/16/lev-parnas-creator-of-echo-chambers/

January 16, 2020

Remember when William Barr couldn't answer this question?

https://twitter.com/MysterySolvent/status/1217660715844210688

January 16, 2020

"I WANT YOU"

?1579102432

January 15, 2020

When the smoke clears...

January 15, 2020

Toles on "if the president does it, it's not a crime... it's a strategy!"

?1579004258

January 15, 2020

Yes they can. Yes they are. Yes we will

I don’t know who needs to hear this, besides everyone in America. We have Nancy Pelosi over in the house busting the President’s brand and meanwhile folks are questioning whether a woman can lead, whether a woman can take on this president. Yes they can. Yes they are. Yes we will


https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1217102176771813376

January 15, 2020

Wow! So proof of Trump's guilt doesn't matter because the Republicans already know he's guilty!

Brit Hume says that even if John Bolton testifies that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine to pressure them into investigating Biden, it doesn’t add anything because most Republicans already believe that’s what happened even though they won’t say that

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1217242001071992832

January 15, 2020

Putin and Assad caught on video laughing as they mock Trump during Damascus meeting

“If Trump arrives along this road [to Damascus], everything will become normal with him too,” Assad said, according to a translation of the conversation. Putin then quipped that Trump would jump at the offer and if not, he’ll convince him to visit the country’s capital. “It will be repaired… invite him. He will come.” Assad replied that he’s ready to invite Trump. Putin then smiles and says, “I will tell him.”

The inspiration for the joke was the biblical story of the Apostle Paul, who was struck blind by God while on a road to Damascus, only later to be transformed into a follower of Christ.


https://twitter.com/dimsmirnov175/status/1216357048062967808
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/watch-putin-and-assad-caught-on-video-laughing-as-they-mock-trump-during-damascus-meeting/