Gohmert has never witnessed a Congressionally run impeachment investigation. A "Special Prosecutor" (a lawyer) was hired to conduct the investigation of previous impeachments.
I think there is a specific reason why the US Congress decided to run their own investigations and it is due to the high level of corruption that exists with the Trump administration. The laws also changed. So, Gohmert is way off base in his hissy fit. He is obtuse. I doubt he put much time into understanding the investigation and new laws.
October 21, 1973
By Carroll Kirkpatrick
In the most traumatic government upheaval of the Watergate crisis, (click here) President Nixon yesterday discharged Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox and accepted the resignations of Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus.
The President also abolished the office of the special prosecutor and turned over to the Justice Department the entire responsibility for further investigation and prosecution of suspects and defendants in Watergate and related cases.
Shortly after the White House announcement, FBI agents sealed off the offices of Richardson and Ruckelshaus in the Justice Department and at Cox's headquarters in an office building on K Street NW.
An FBI spokesman said the agents moved in "at the request of the White House."...
The president can't discharge a Congress.
September 15, 1999
By Dick Thornburgh, Mark H. Tuohey III and Michael Davidson
...Earlier this year we participated in a bipartisan project, (click here) which was chaired by former Senate Leaders Bob Dole and George Mitchell and assisted by the American Enterprise Institute and The Brookings Institution, to recommend actions that Congress and the Executive Branch might take upon the Act’s impending sunset. With release of its public report on May 18, and following Senators Dole’s and Mitchell’s testimony before this committee on June 11, the project completed its work. In our testimony we will describe for comparative purposes some of the project’s recommendations. Beyond that, in light of the project’s culmination, the views that we express in this joint statement and in our individual remarks will be our own....
Does anyone actually believe Bill Barr would assign a Special Counsel to the violations by Trump in regard to the military aid to Ukraine? He hasn't, has he?
Just to illustrate the compensation of Hunter Biden in relation to his peers. $50,000 per month. This is Oxydental's public reporting to the SEC.
Below, Page 33 on the report and Page 92 of the PDF.
Compensation Decisions ƒ Base salary: Ms. Hollub’s base salary was unchanged in 2017.
Annual Cash Incentive: Ms. Hollub’s target Annual Cash Incentive award was set in February 2017 at $1,875,000, unchanged from 2016. The company performance portion of the Annual Cash Incentive award was earned at 130% of target. Based on Ms. Hollub’s individual achievements described above, the Compensation Committee determined that the individual performance portion of the Annual Cash Incentive award was earned at 140% of target.
Long-Term Incentives: The target value of Ms. Hollub’s long-term incentive award package for 2017 was $8,500,000, an increase of approximately 6% as compared to 2016. 70% of Ms. Hollub’s long-term incentive package is dependent on the company’s TSR performance over a three-year performance period. For information regarding how the Compensation Committee determines individual long-term incentive award amounts, please see “Elements of the 2017 Compensation Program – Long-Term Incentive Compensation” on page 27.
There may be a real reason Hunter Biden was offered and then accepted his position with Burisma's Board of Directors.
In deciding their compensation packages for the Occidental Board of Directors, the company exams their peers as well.The ability of Burisma to pay exceptional talent was limited. I think they made a wise decision to add an American.
A different topic is that of the tariff income from China. It is amazing to realize the degree to which these tariffs have effected USA Commerce. Not only are these amazing numbers, but, Trump is doubling down on them.
By Gina Heeb
The US government collected a record amount in tariffs in October (click here) as a trade dispute between the Trump administration and China escalated, according to new data released Monday.
Revenue from import taxes jumped to $7.2 billion that month, the free-trade advocacy groups Tariffs Hurt the Heartland and The Trade Partnership said. That was the most in history and a $1 billion rise from the same time a year earlier.
President Donald Trump slapped steep duties on an additional $111 billion worth of Chinese imports on September 1, hitting far more consumer products than in previous tranches. He is scheduled to further escalate tariffs this Sunday as the two sides struggle to hammer out the details of an interim trade agreement....
Back to the hearing:
There was no direct contact between the Whistleblower and the US House Intelligence Committee members.
November 13, 2019
By Lori Robertson
One more time:
...contacted an intelligence committee aide after passing along concerns to the CIA’s top lawyer...
A casual observation, if I may? The Republicans are reading everything they state during this hearing as if scripted. It has that appearance. They are making speeches.
But, as to the Whistleblower contact with Adam Schiff; it didn't occur. An aide to the Congressman brought information forward. There was no direct contact with the Whistleblower with Chairman Schiff. The Chairman's office offered advise.
That could be questionable if that isn't what was to occur. The Whistleblower did seek legal consultation which was obvious in the wording and scope of the complaint. I was astounded when I read it that it was as solidly correct in it's scope. Additionally, the Whistleblower did go to the Inspector General. It all fits. It is only natural a Whistleblower was alarmed to the events unfolding and would seek to provide information to a Congressional member that would help give voice to the wrongdoing by Trump.
Whistleblowing is not a perfect science or perfect procedure when in the hands of those loyal to the USA. It is a procedure to bring about the truth to concerns of those among Americans alarmed by issues before them. I still congratulate the Whistleblower and wish him/her well.
An observation about vaping:
November 21, 2019
By Hannah Knowles and Lena H. Sun
...Most of the patients (click here) who have fallen sick and for whom officials have demographic information are male and young: Almost 80 percent of the patients are under 35, and their median age is 24, according to the CDC. But until the report of the New York teen’s death, the deaths were older adults. The median age of patients who died is 53. Their ages range from 17 to 75....
...“We’re all wondering if this is new or just newly recognized,” the CDC’s Dana Meaney-Delman said earlier this summer....
The USA is beginning to have a failure in demographics across the country. One of those demographics is 50-year-old white men. Those investing vaping at the CDC question the idea this is a new disease so much as a newly recognized disease. I think it would be irresponsible to eliminate vaping as a possibility in this demographic group's deaths.
Vaping does result in symptoms that are shared by tobacco, including coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath and respiratory distress syndrome. Could the 50-year-old demographic group be among the first to succumb to vaping disease?
The hearing:
Mr. McClintock is reading another speech made using THE SAME Republican talking points/rhetoric as others have already introduced. I think it is scripted.
November 22, 2019
By Sonam Sheth and Grace Panetta
In other words, he acknowledged doing the very thing he could be impeached for and has repeatedly denied.
Trump referred to the conspiracy theory that Ukraine is hiding a mysterious Democratic National Committee "server" that contains incriminating evidence of Ukrainian interference and Democratic collusion. There is no evidence supporting this conspiracy theory — the former National Security Council official Fiona Hill testified this week that it was part of a Russian disinformation campaign....
The origins of Trump's conspiracy theory of which he withheld military aid to Ukraine was propagated by a White Supremacist/Nationalist website 4chan.
October 3, 2019
By Ben Collins
An anonymous post from March 2017 (click here) on the far-right 4chan message board teased a conspiracy theory that would eventually make its way to the White House.
“Russia could not have been the source of leaked Democrat emails released by Wikileaks,” the post teased, not citing any evidence for the assertion.
The post baselessly insinuated that CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that worked with the Democratic National Committee and had been contracted to investigate a hack of its servers, fabricated a forensics report to frame Russia for election interference. The 4chan post was published three days before then-FBI Director James Comey testified before Congress about Russian interference in the 2016 election....
Donald J. Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine for the investigation into a completely fictitious conspiracy. This alone is more than a worry, it is a clear indication there is little to no competency within the Oval Office. The Oval Office more or less is compelled by Breitbart. The right-wing media is already known to lay down cover for all Trump's lies. He endangered the lives of the people of Ukraine on a whim, a political whim for re-election.
There is no way of knowing if the anonymous post was made by a Russian operative. At least most people wouldn't know.
About hate:
Ferndale is again the victim of hate mongers.
By Robert Mittendorf
“Hate has no home” in Ferndale, (click here) speakers said at a meeting Tuesday night, Aug. 27, in response to recent white nationalist activity in Whatcom County.
Riveters Collective, a non-profit civic action group serving the Whatcom County area, sponsored the “Not in Our Community!” event after recruiting posters for the white supremacist group Patriot Front were posted last month along Main Street in downtown Ferndale.
A single Patriot Front poster was found last week in the Fairhaven shopping district of Bellingham....
December 9, 2019By Robert Mittendorf
Ferndale Police (click here) are again looking into the activities of a white supremacist group after the downtown area was peppered with messages of hate directed at people for their race, national origin or political views.
City spokesman Riley Sweeney confirmed social media posts that said people found literature believed to be from the Patriot Front attached to utility poles and other places downtown.
“This is an active investigation,” Sweeney told The Bellingham Herald. “If members of the public see the flyers, we urge them to take a picture and send it to Detective Justin Pike (jpike@ferndalepd.org). We do not have a full count yet, although I’ve found two this morning. No damage reported beyond the defacing of public utility poles.”...
The Republicans are always saying the president was elected by the country and that should be respected. Well. The clear majority of Democrats were elected by the country, too. And why? Because the country wanted a stop on Trump's vicious and dangerous agenda.
Americans are paying attention to the hearings no matter where they are in the world.
By Erin Donnelly
Former first lady Michelle Obama (click here) — whom filmmaker Michael Moore has called the “one person that would crush” President Donald Trump in 2020 — may not be throwing her hat into the ring, but she is sharing her thoughts on the other pressing political issue of the day: the impeachment hearings.
On Monday, the Today show aired an interview between Obama and anchor (and former first daughter) Jenna Bush Hager in Vietnam, where the former FLOTUS is representing the Girls Opportunity Alliance alongside actress Julia Roberts. While Obama is in the country to raise awareness about the importance of education for young girls, the conversation naturally turned to the threat of impeachment currently looming over her husband’s White House successor....
..."It's surreal,” she told Bush Hager, adding that young people were unaccustomed to seeing a president go through the process. "I don't think people know what to make of it. But do I think we can come back from it? Oh yeah.
"We've seen tough times in this country,” she added. “You know we've gone through depressions and wars and bombings and terrorist attacks, and we've gone through Jim Crow, and we've always come out stronger. And that's what we have to continue to believe because what's our choice? To ball up in a corner and call it a day? Well that's not fair to this next generation that's coming before us that are counting on us to get this right."
end
