In his letter to Pelosi, the president also accused her of “offending the Founding Fathers” and attacked her for saying that she regularly prays for the president.

“It is a terrible thing you are doing, but you will have to live with it, not I!” the president fumed.

Trump then complained that Democrats were impeaching him for a “totally innocent” phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he urged his Ukrainian counterpart to launch an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden at a time when military aid to the country was being withheld.

Later in the letter, the president bragged of his “Electoral College landslide (306-227)” in 2016 and said Pelosi had “developed a full-fledged case of… Trump derangement syndrome and sadly, you will never get over it!”

Read the whole letter here.

Mitch McConnell says Republicans will vote to dismiss impeachment charges after opening remarks



https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/mitch-mcconnell-says-republicans-will-vote-to-dismiss-impeachment-charges-after-opening-remarks/

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on Tuesday that Republicans may seek to dismiss impeachment charges against President Donald Trump after hearing opening statements in a Senate trial.

McConnell made the remarks from the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon. The Majority Leader said that he was using the 1999 Senate trial of President Bill Clinton as a model for a proposed trial of Trump.

In doing so, McConnell suggested that a motion to dismiss would be put forth by Republicans after opening statements.

“By any ordinary legal standard, what House Democrats have assembled would appear to be woefully, woefully inadequate to prove what they want to allege,” McConnell said. “The House should not impeach on this basis in the first place.”

McConnell also rejected the idea that the Senate would hear from witnesses as has been proposed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Rick Gates gets jail: Team Trump mocked after yet another aide lands behind bars – despite cooperating with Mueller

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/rick-gates-gets-jail-team-trump-mocked-after-yet-another-aide-lands-behind-bars-despite-cooperating-with-mueller/



According to reports this Tuesday, Donald Trump’s one-time deputy campaign manager, Rick Gates, has received 36 months of probation after pleading guilty last year to financial fraud and lying to investigators. He will also serve 45 days in jail on weekends “or in accordance with the schedule of the probation office,” POLITICO reports.

Despite the light sentence that was handed down due to his cooperation with the Mueller investigation, many on Twitter saw his sentence as just another example of a Trump associate facing a reckoning for corruption.

“Once articles of impeachment arrive in the Senate, Republicans will take control of the impeachment process for the first time. A growing number, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, want a quick trial without witnesses, which they view as the easiest path to acquittal,” The Journal explained.

“Mr. Trump has publicly signaled his openness to a short trial, and White House aides are pitching him on the idea that a quick acquittal would be its own form of vindication. Privately, though, he has said he wants not just a quick process, but also the ability to call a list of witnesses. It isn’t clear how Mr. McConnell could deliver both of those things,” the newspaper explained.

The newspaper interviewed Sen. David Perdue (R-GA), who frequently speaks with the president.

Perdue said Trump “wants his day in court. He feels like he has not been able to have any defense over in the House. He has not. He’s been denied the No. 1 right all of us have, which is to face his accuser and have our defense represented.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/trump-wants-his-day-in-court-so-he-can-legitimize-results-of-the-2016-election-gop-senator/

Aaron Rupar
@atrupar

This is a lie. There was an issue with Trump's mic during one of the 2016 debates but the commission never "publicly apologized" https://nytimes.com/2016/10/01/us/politics/donald-trump-debate.html

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1206582242279067648

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

I look very much forward to debating whoever the lucky person is who stumbles across the finish line in the little watched Do Nothing Democrat Debates. My record is so good on the Economy and all else, including debating, that perhaps I would consider more than 3 debates.....

9:25 AM · Dec 16, 2019·Twitter for iPhone

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1206581028283965441

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

....The problem is that the so-called Commission on Presidential Debates is stacked with Trump Haters & Never Trumpers. 3 years ago they were forced to publicly apologize for modulating my microphone in the first debate against Crooked Hillary. As President, the debates are up...

9:25 AM · Dec 16, 2019·Twitter for iPhone

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1206581051176435712

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

....to me, and there are many options, including doing them directly & avoiding the nasty politics of this very biased Commission. I will make a decision at an appropriate time but in the meantime, the Commission on Presidential Debates is NOT authorized to speak for me (or R’s)!

9:25 AM · Dec 16, 2019·Twitter for iPhone

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1206581054619996161

Lauren Fox
@FoxReports

NEWS: Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer sends letter to McConnell suggesting 4 witnesses and ground rules for upcoming impeachment trial. His witnesses include Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton. Michael Duffey and Robert Blair.





https://twitter.com/FoxReports/status/1206363367897735168

&w=1440
Don’t worry, Sen. Graham. No one thought you’d be fair.

By Jennifer Rubin
Opinion writer
Dec. 15, 2019 at 12:30 p.m. EST

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Saturday that he’s made up his mind that President Trump should be acquitted, dismissed the notion that he has to be a “fair juror” and said he doesn’t see the need for a formal trial in the Senate.

He need not have worried. Amidst his boot-licking and willful ignorance of a “quid pro quo," Graham left little doubt that he had the slightest intention of doing his job as a juror.

At the trial, Democrats should certainly appeal to the presiding judge, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., to disqualify Graham. After all, it is impossible that he could take an oath as required under the Constitution. “I solemnly swear (or affirm) that in all things appertaining to the trial of ____, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help me God,” is the oath Graham and others must take. He has declared not only his partiality but his determination to ignore all evidence.

The Take Care blog explains:

The Senator’s Oath in impeachment trials addresses the tension between the political and legal character of impeachment. The requirement of “impartial justice” means that every Senator must decide from behind the veil of ignorance -- that is, as if he or she did not know the party affiliation of the person impeached. This includes evaluating the evidence, and deciding whether the proven misconduct justifies removal from office. Senators violate their oath if they apply friendlier standards to Presidents of their own Party than to those of the opposing Party.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/15/dont-worry-sen-graham-no-one-thought-youd-be-fair/

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

Approval Rating in Republican Party = 95%, a Record! Overall Approval Rating = 51%. Think of where I’d be without the never ending, 24 hour a day, phony Witch Hunt, that started 3 years ago!

2:14 PM · Dec 15, 2019·Twitter for iPhone

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1206291469452988417

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

The @foxnewPolls, always inaccurate, are heavily weighted toward Dems. So ridiculous - same thing happened in 2016. They got it all wrong. Get a new pollster!

2:08 PM · Dec 15, 2019·Twitter for iPhone

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1206289904470233088