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Schiff, Adam REP 98%

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SEE TWO SENATOR 2 25

trump target enemy list impeach mgr also Jan 6 comm

https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/adam-b-schiff

100 2021 98% life

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6 22

#WethePeopleAmendment has two new cosponsors--Rep Nikema Williams (GA-5) and Rep Adam Schiff (CA-28). We are now at 93 cosponsors, our most yet!

2 25

Committee assignments

For the 118th Congress:[129]

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Caucus memberships

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an 11 24

lnxno

:{alternet

Biden must use 'preemptive pardons' to protect these 6 people Trump singled out: columnist

President Joe Biden signs an Executive Order on protecting personal data, Wednesday, February 28, 2024, in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

Alex HendersonNovember 26, 2024Frontpage news and politics

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) has been warning that Pam Bondi — former Florida attorney general and President-elect Donald Trump's new nominee for U.S. attorney general — will likely be all in on Trump's "revenge" campaign if confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Klobuchar, during a late November interview, told ABC News, "Does it concern me that revenge would be part of her mission? Of course it does."

During an August 2023 appearance on Fox News, Bondi threatened, "The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted... The investigators will be investigated."

READ MORE:'Build your army': Trump’s Pentagon pick wants Christian nationalist 'boot camps' for kids

Journalist Eleanor Clift shares Klobuchar's concerns. Her solution: President Joe Biden must exercise his "preemptive pardon" powers while he still has a chance.

In a November 26 opinion column for the Daily Beast, Clift argues, "Trump knows how the game works, and he's been upfront for months about using every lever of government to seek retribution from those who he believes wronged him. His choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi, is an election denier who should be disqualified on that alone. Instead, she is expected to lead the charge purging the DOJ of anyone who worked on prosecuting Trump, while also wasting taxpayer money to dig up alleged fraud from the 2020 election."

Clift continues, "Trump has threatened many of his adversaries, and he will soon have the power to make good on his threats. President Biden must act and use his pardon power to safeguard a lengthening list of people who are on the receiving end of Trump's threats. They will say they've done nothing wrong, and they're right. Preemptive pardons are problematic, a get-out-of jail free card when you haven't committed a crime. But they're needed now that President-elect Trump is gearing up his revenge tour."

Clift cites special counsel Jack Smith as a likely target of Trump's "revenge" campaign.

READ MORE: 'Appalling': George Conway has a prediction about 'spineless' GOP senators

"Before he leaves office, Biden should pardon Liz Cheney, a profile in courage who we haven’t heard from since the election, and Nancy Pelosi, another unafraid leader and favorite target of Trump," Clift argues. "Then, the two generals deserve pardons: Mark Milley, who said he fears being recalled into service so Trump can court-martial him, and John Kelly, Trump's longest serving chief of staff who said Trump is a fascist."

Clift adds, "Also in the crosshairs are Adam Kinzinger, the former GOP congressman who served on the 1/6 committee, and Senator-elect Adam Schiff, who oversaw Trump's impeachment and is the butt of Trump’s nasty nicknames."

READ MORE: 'Build your army': Trump’s Pentagon pick wants Christian nationalist 'boot camps' for kids

Eleanor Clift's full Daily Beast column is available at this link (subscription required).

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an

House passes bill 'giving Donald Trump unlimited authority' to target political enemies

Carl Gibson

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OMFG

bill, HR 9495, which would allow a presidentially appointed treasury secretary to unilaterally strip a nonprofit of its status if deemed a “terrorism-supporting” organization, has passed in the US House of Representatives.

The bill passed 219-184, mostly along partisan lines, with Republicans in support and Democrats opposing; 15 Democrats broke with their caucus to vote in favor of the bill.

The measure, formally named the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, has raised alarm across the nonprofit sector and US civil society, and a multitude of organizations—from civil rights groups to nonprofit media to advocacy and direct service groups—have mobilized against the bill.

The measure has raised alarm across the nonprofit sector and US civil society.

An earlier version of the bill was introduced with bipartisan support amid widespread campus protests over the war in Gaza, with at least the implication that some groups supporting or organizing those protests were also (or therefore) supporting “terrorism.”

That assumption alone would be enough to spark fears of political retribution by any president, via the secretary of the treasury, against disfavored nonprofit groups.

But the stakes of the bill were raised when Donald J. Trump won reelection this month.

Those mobilizing against the measure fear that Trump, who has publicly broadcast his interest and willingness to punish his perceived political opponents, will use the bill to target and silence any organization he disagrees with.

Those mobilizing against the measure fear that Trump…will use the bill to target and silence any organization he disagrees with.

This September, the ACLU and some 150 organizations cosigned a letter opposing the legislation, expressing “deep concerns about the bill’s potential to grant the executive branch extraordinary power to investigate, harass, and effectively dismantle any nonprofit organization—including news outlets, universities, and civil liberties organizations like ours—by stripping them of their tax-exempt status based on a unilateral accusation of wrongdoing.”

Last week, the Council on Foundations, Independent Sector, National Council of Nonprofits, and United Philanthropy Forum penned another letter, stating:

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This legislation would allow the Secretary of the Treasury to designate section 501(c) nonprofits as “terrorist supporting organizations” at the Secretary’s discretion, without requiring the Secretary to share their full evidence or reasoning with accused nonprofits. Furthermore, the legislation runs counter to constitutional due process protections by placing the burden of proof on the accused organization and providing only 90 days for organizations to demonstrate their innocence before revoking their tax-exempt status.

The bill failed an earlier House vote last week, when supporters failed to rally a two-thirds vote required for procedural reasons, with 52 Democrats breaking with their caucus to vote in favor. The House vote today, however, required only a simple majority to pass.

Speaking on the House floor Thursday, Democrat opponents of the bill warned that it could be weaponized by Trump and his administration to target political enemies and perceived opposition to the incoming president’s agenda.

Describing the bill as a “death penalty for nonprofits,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) said that rather than protecting Americans, the measure would allow President-elect Donald Trump to “use it as a sword against those he views as his political enemies.…If this bill were to become law we would hand him a bludgeon for a crusade against those he deems the greatest danger to America, what he calls ‘the enemy within’.”

“It is not just Trump imposing a death sentence that should concern us but it is his power to intimidate,” said Doggett. “Clearly the bill would have a chilling effect on any group that has the audacity to challenge his chilling vision.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who chairs the Democratic Progressive Caucus, called the bill “an authoritarian play by Republicans to expand the sweeping powers of the executive branch to go after political enemies and stifle political dissent.”

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) called the measure “a dangerous and unconstitutional bill that would allow unchecked power to target nonprofit organizations as political enemies and shut them down without due process.”

The bill now advances from the Republican-controlled House to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.

Republican members dismissed such objections. Noting previous bipartisan support for the bill, House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) blasted his colleagues across the aisle for voting against the measure.

“Despite that consistent bipartisan support,” Smith said, “the majority of our Democrat colleagues voted last week to block passage of this bill. Why?…Because President Trump won the election.”

“They now believe the authorities in this bill might be abused,” said Smith. “But every concern raised by Democrats has been addressed in this bill to ensure due process and to protect legitimate nonprofits.”

The bill now advances from the Republican-controlled House to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain—but where it very well may be defeated by Democratic senators, who still hold a slim majority.

Regardless, groups following the legislation warn that the bill is likely to return, at least in some form, in 2025—under a Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald Trump.

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odd choice for an enemy within

an 11 24

Legislation that would have handed President-elect Donald Trump sweeping power to investigate and shutter news outlets, government watchdogs, humanitarian organizations, and other nonprofits was defeated in the House of Representatives on Tuesday after a coalition of progressive advocacy groups and lawmakers mobilized against it, warning of the bill's dire implications for the right to dissent.

But 52 Democratic lawmakers—including Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), and Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.)—apparently did not share the grave concerns expressed by the ACLU and other leading rights groups, opting to vote alongside 204 Republicans in favor of the bill.

One Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, joined 144 Democrats in voting no.

The measure ultimately fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to approve legislation under the fast-track procedure used by the bill's supporters, but progressives wasted no time spotlighting the Democrats who supported the measure.

"If you're looking for a handy list of Democrats who have no fucking clue what is about to hit and need their spines stiffened ASAP, this is a good place to start," wrote Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of the advocacy group Indivisible.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who vocally opposed the legislation, wrote that "these 52 Democrats voted to give Trump the power to shut down any nonprofit he wants."

"The NAACP, ACLU, Planned Parenthood, no organization would be safe," Tlaib added. "Shameful."

If passed, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act would grant the Treasury Department—soon to be under the control of a Trump nominee—the authority to unilaterally strip nonprofits of their tax-exempt status by deeming them supporters of terrorism.

The bill could be revived in the next Congress, which is likely to be under full Republican control.

Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel with the ACLU, toldThe Intercept late Tuesday that "we will continue our sustained opposition."

It is already illegal under U.S. law to provide material backing for terrorism, and the executive branch has significant authority to target groups it considers terrorist-supporting.

"This isn't just an attack on our communities; it's a fundamental threat to free speech and democracy."

The ACLU noted ahead of Tuesday's vote that while the bill contains "a 90-day 'cure' period in which a designated nonprofit can mount a defense, it is a mere illusion of due process."

"The government may deny organizations its reasons and evidence against them, leaving the nonprofit unable to rebut allegations," the group said. "This means that a nonprofit could be left entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as 'support,' making it virtually impossible to clear its name."

Opponents of the bill warned that Palestinian rights organizations would be uniquely imperiled if it passed.

"This bill dangerously weaponizes the Treasury against nonprofit organizations and houses of worship—Christian, Jewish, or Muslim—that dare to support Palestinian and Lebanese human rights or criticize Israel's genocidal actions," said Robert McCaw, director of government affairs at the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"Allowing such sweeping, unchecked power would set a chilling precedent, enabling the government to selectively target and suppress voices of dissent under the guise of national security," McCaw added. "This isn't just an attack on our communities; it's a fundamental threat to free speech and democracy."

Georgia State Rep. Ruwa Romman (D-97), a Palestinian American, echoed that sentiment following Tuesday's vote and condemned the legislation's 52 Democratic supporters.

"Every single Democrat who voted for this is not taking the threat of Trump remotely seriously and should be disqualified from any leadership positions moving forward," Romman wrote on social media. "This is no longer business as usual. To agree to give him this kind of power is beyond egregious."

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an 10 24

One Republican member of Congress is now openly defending former President Donald Trump's call to use the military as a means of crushing American dissent.

Earlier this week, Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo that he wasn't ruling out deploying the U.S. military against "the enemy from within," which apparently includes "radical left lunatics." Trump even mentioned Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California), who is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, when discussing "lunatics that we have inside." And on Tuesday morning, CNN host John Berman got Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Florida) in favor of the former president's proposal.

"Do you think deploying the military against political opponents is something that's responsible to discuss from political candidates?" Berman asked.

READ MORE:'Ok, no': CNN host spars with far-right rep refusing to commit to peaceful transfer of power

"I think that's completely appropriate," Waltz said. "I think it's responsible to discuss deploying the National Guard, which is clearly part of the military, John, to keep our streets safe, to keep rioters out of the street. Everyone is welcome to protest peacefully. but when it exceeds that into violence as it did many times in 2020, then the National Guard was deployed and should be deployed and that has happened in a bipartisan way across many administrations separately."

Notably, Waltz also didn't differ from Trump when asked specifically about Trump describing Schiff as an "enemy from within." The Florida Republican referenced Schiff's censure by the GOP-controlled House of Representatives over his claims about Trump's 2016 campaign getting assistance from Russia, as well as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's unfounded claim that Schiff leaked classified information.

"When you have senior members of the intelligence committee lying and leaking from from compartmented hearings when you have them lying to the public in an open hearing that is detrimental to our republic, to our democracy and public trust in our institutions and that's what he was talking about," Waltz said. "And that is not good for the country."

Waltz also insisted that Trump was put in unnecessary danger by commentators criticizing him over his repeated threats to democracy and the rule of law, suggesting that the two attempts on Trump's life were a byproduct of that rhetoric. Berman pushed back, saying Waltz has "tossed around" words like "socialism" and "Marxism" to describe his Democratic colleagues. Berman also mentioned to Waltz that former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley — whom Trump appointed to be the top U.S. military official in 2019 — called the ex-president "fascist to the core."

READ MORE:'Made violence his brand': Fascism scholar says threat of 2nd Trump term 'uniquely dangerous'

"Socialism is a longstanding political ideology. That's very different than saying someone is going to be — the world's most God, I mean, Godawful dictator in Hitler, and that clearly is radicalizing people to take action where they believe the ends justify the means to kill him," Waltz said. He additionally defended calling Vice President Kamala Harris a Marxist, saying: "there is Marxism that is underpinning many of her policies, including price controls."

"All I'm saying Congressman, is when Mark Milley says 'no one has ever been as dangerous to the country as Donald Trump, now I realize he's a total fascist,' he's saying that Donald Trump espouses fascist policies," Berman countered. "It's a political ideology. Fascism is a political ideology."

Waltz — who is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army — didn't acknowledge Milley's remarks about Trump. He instead suggested that America was on the brink of "World War Three" and referenced Russia's war on Ukraine and Israel's ongoing military campaigns in Gaza and in Lebanon as evidence of things being "pretty darn dangerous" under President Joe Biden's administration.

Watch the segment below, or by clicking this link.

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all 3 cands no corp money

California Senate race: Democrats reject corporate PAC cash- CalMatters

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an 6 23

rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) called Democrats "shameful" because they continue to support Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) after Republicans censured him.

During a Sunday interview on Fox News, Mace recalled how Democrats protested by chanting "shame" on the House floor after Schiff was censured for his role in the Russia election interference investigation.

"We witnessed it firsthand," she said. "And it was obscene. And they were yelling shame. But what was shameful is that they are supporting a guy who betrayed his oath of office.

"Adam Schiff betrayed his oath," she added. "He lied to the American people. He leaked classified information off the Intel Committee."

Mace did not address Republicans supporting former President Donald Trump, who has also been accused of lying and mishandling classified information.

Watch the video below from Fox News

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luna only intro 6 bills total 5 ~ schiff?!

an 6 23

House GOP resolution seeking to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for supposedly making false statements about former President Donald Trump's association with Russia in 2016 ended in defeat this week as 20 Republican representatives voted with Democrats to sink the measure.

One of the resolution's key proponents, freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), vowed to try again on Twitter. "20 Republicans voted against the recommended fine, censure, and investigation of Schiff," she wrote. "I don’t think they read the bill in entirety. Next week, we will be filing a motion to censure and investigate Schiff. We are removing fine as that seems to be what made these Republicans uneasy."

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), however, quickly smacked her down — and pointed out there's no evidence Schiff lied about the Russia affair in the first place.

"A few suggestions for you," tweeted Goldman, an attorney who formerly worked on Trump's second impeachment. "1) Read the Mueller and OIG reports, both of which explain that the Steele dossier was irrelevant to opening the Russia investigation or the convictions of Trump campaign members. 2) do some research about what 'evidence' means. 3) Stop lying."

This is not the first move Republicans have made to single out Schiff, the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, for punishment since taking a narrow majority last year. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) removed him from the committee after taking the gavel, ostensibly for lying about whether he knew the identity of the whistleblower who triggered Trump's first impeachment — although there's no actual evidence Schiff lied about that.

The 20 House Republicans who voted against censuring and fining Schiff came from all sides of the caucus, from vulnerable swing-district incumbents like Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ), to far-right Freedom Caucus figures like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who said, "The Constitution says the House may make its own rules but we can’t violate other (later) provisions of the Constitution. A $16 million fine is a violation of the 27th and 8th amendments."

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB

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shame! 2nd time went thru 20 gop defect on 14m$ if ethics comm found guilty?

crime was pt out trump russ collusion?

https://www.alternet.org/you-but-indict-yourselves-censure/

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shame! 2nd time went thru 20 gop defect on 14m$ if ethics comm found guilty?

crime was pt out trump russ collusion?

https://www.alternet.org/you-but-indict-yourselves-censure/

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6 23 hit fail some gop vote censure

https://www.alternet.org/i-thought-id-seen-everything/

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an 2 23

United States Representative Adam Schiff (D-California) on Wednesday refuted Republican vilification of immigrants and expressed gratitude for the life-and-death sacrifices that countless thousands of them made during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Many Republicans in Congress seem intent on demonizing migrant families and asylum seekers, portraying them as fentanyl traffickers and violent criminals. In the real world, asylum seekers are vulnerable individuals and families fleeing political persecution and torture," Schiff said. "And these terrible stereotypes that my Republican colleagues are peddling have real-world consequences and bring real-world harm as they increase the level of hate and violence directed at immigrants here at home."

In April 2022, studies conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found that "the risk of infection with COVID-19 among migrant workers was twice as high as among native-born workers in several countries. But many migrant workers have had to balance the risk of getting sick at work with the risk of losing employment or income."

READ MORE: Former Reagan speechwriter rips Greg Abbott for his 'cruel' and 'heartless' immigration stunts

Schiff touched upon those socioeconomic inequities in his address.

"Let me just take this opportunity to recognize the many immigrants who risked their lives during the pandemic to take care of us when we were sick in the hospital with COVID, who brought food to our grocery stores and delivered goods to our doors, who worked in our fields so we would not go hungry and who died disproportionately because they could not work from home," he said, adding that "I want to say thank you for your courage. Our country is better off for having you here."

Watch below or at this link.

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raw an 12 22

https://www.alternet.org/2021/12/trump-russia-collusion

Rep. James Comer (R-KY) tried to claim that the entire investigation into the Trump campaign's multiple contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign was a hoax -- only to run into a buzzsaw in the form of Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).

Comer started off by mocking Schiff and other investigators for probing the Trump campaign's multiple contacts with Russian officials, including Donald Trump Jr.'s infamous Trump Tower meeting with a Russian national who promised him dirt on Hillary Clinton and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort's frequent contacts with Konstantin Kilimnik, whom the FBI has identified as a Russian agent.

Schiff was quick to cut to the chase.

"Let me ask the gentleman... are you aware that the president's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, secretly met with an agent of Russian intelligence and provided Russian intelligence with internal campaign polling data, as well as strategic insights about their strategy in key battleground states, are you aware of that?" Schiff asked him.

"I think everyone's aware of every bit of information that you all have tried to peddle," Comer replied.

"Let me ask you," Schiff continued. "Are you aware that while the Trump campaign chairman was providing internal polling data, that Kremlin intelligence was leading a clandestine social media campaign to elect Donald Trump? Are you aware of that?"

"I think we see every day that Russia was trying to do a Facebook campaign in Ukraine, [to support who/ why?] " Comer replied, without addressing Schiff's actual point.

"Would you like me to go on?" Schiff asked him.

Watch the video below. 90 secs --> yield to q?

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bills

https://www.congress.gov/member/adam-schiff/S001150}:}:

If you are seeking immediate assistance from the Congressman’s office, please call (818) 450-2900 or (202) 225-4176. We will be in touch shortly.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickboland/  boland@mail.house.gov

115th

http://www.schiff.house.gov twitter: @repadamschiff 2372 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 ............................................... (202) 225–4176 

Chief of Staff.—Jeff Lowenstein. FAX: 225–5828 

Communications Director.—Patrick Boland. 

Executive Assistant.—Christopher Hoven. 245 East Olive Avenue, Burbank, CA 91502 ............................................................................ (626) 304–2727 

District Director.—Ann Peifer. 

Counties: LOS ANGELES (part). CITIES: Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Los Angeles, Pasadena, and West Hollywood. Population (2010), 702,904.

---2016

http://www.schiff.house.gov twitter: @repadamschiff 2411 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 ............................................... (202) 225–4176 Chief of Staff.—Jeff Lowenstein. FAX: 225–5828 Communications Director.—Patrick Boland. Executive Assistant.—Christopher Hoven. 245 East Olive Avenue, Burbank, CA 91502 ............................................................................ (626) 304–2727 District Director.—Ann Peifer.

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https://schiff.house.gov/news/press-releases/congressman-schiff-introduces-constitutional-amendment-to-overturn-citizens-united

mar 2022

Today, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced a constitutional amendment tooverturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, and once again allow for reasonable restrictions on corporate campaign contributions and other spending.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that corporations and special interest groups could spend nearly unlimited funds on election campaigns. In the decade since, outside groups spent more than $4.4 billion in federal elections – nearly $1 billion of which was untraceable “dark money” – with some of the biggest contributors coming from Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry, and the NRA.

“Thanks to one disastrous ruling, wealthy megadonors, corporations, and special interest groups have been able to influence elections when that power should belong with the American people. This has eroded faith in the government’s ability to deliver for the people and their families,” said Schiff. “Dark money should have no place in our democracy. It is time to return power to the people, and overturn Citizens United once and for all.”

Specifically, the amendment would make it clear the Constitution does not restrict the ability of Congress or the states to propose reasonable, content-neutral limitations on private campaign contributions and independent expenditures. It would also allow states to enact public campaign financing systems, which can restrict the influence of corporate and private wealth.

The amendment is co-sponsored by Representatives Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), David Price (D-N.C.), Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Grace F. Napolitano (D-Calif.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.), Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), André Carson (D-Ind.), Jim Himes (D-Conn.), John Garamendi (D-Calif.), Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Ed Case (D-Hawaii), Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.), Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), David Trone (D-Md.), Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), Kaiali'i Kahele (D-Hawaii), and Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.). It is also supported by Common Cause, Public Citizen, End Citizens United/Let America Vote Action Fund, People for the American Way, American Promise, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

“Our democracy works best when everyone is represented and government works for all the people, not just the wealthy few,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, President of Common Cause. “Several Supreme Court decisions, like Citizens United and McCutcheon, have eroded our campaign finance laws and given wealthy special interests and corporations undue influence over our elections and the policy that comes afterward. Chairman Schiff’s proposed amendment would allow Congress and the states to restore balance and reduce the undue influence of money in the political process.”

"With Big Money swamping our elections and distorting policymaking, the American people are united in their desire for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and related decisions. Americans want and need a country that belongs to and is governed by We the People, not We the Corporations. Thank you Rep. Schiff for again leading the way to safeguard our democracy!" said Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen.

"The Supreme Court's Citizens Uniteddecision has weakened our democracy and allowed wealthy special interests to silence the voices of everyday people. Congressman Schiff's amendment will unrig this system and end the dominance of big money in politics," said Tiffany Muller, President of End Citizens United/Let America Vote Action Fund.

"People For the American Way is committed to defending our democracy. As we continue pushing for essential voting rights reforms, we remain determined to root out big money influences in politics. We must stay focused on the harms inflicted by Citizens United and related cases. To that end, we welcome the reintroduction of Rep. Adam Schiff’s constitutional amendment, and we thank him for his steadfast leadership over the years,” said Marge Baker, Executive Vice President of People For the American Way.

Click here to read the bill text.

...‘Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to 6 forbid Congress or the States from imposing reasonable viewpoint-neutral limitations on private campaign contributions or independent election expenditures, or from enacting systems of public campaign financing, including  those designed to restrict the influence of private wealth by offsetting campaign spending or independent expenditures with increased public funding.’’

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BS

https://**nypost.com**/:{2020/10/20/:(style="background-color:#ffff66ff"):}:doj-agrees-hunter-biden-emails-are-not-russian-disinformation-report/

no vid

Department of Justice agrees with spy chief John Ratcliffe’s assessment that emails published by The Post from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden are not part of a Russian disinformation campaign, a report said.

Sources told Fox News that the FBI is also indeed in possession of the Hunter Biden laptop that the emails were copied from.

The first story The Post published about Biden’s emails included a photo of a Delaware federal subpoena that show both the computer and its hard drive were seized by the FBI in December, after a computer repairman said he alerted federal authorities to their existence.

On Monday, Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, said the emails were “not part of some Russian disinformation campaign.”

“Hunter Biden’s laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign,” Ratcliffe said.

"Let me be clear: The intelligence community doesn’t believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that. And we have shared no intelligence with Adam Schiff, or any member of Congress,” he said.

Rep. Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, had claimed the emails were part of a smear orchestrated by Moscow.

Ratcliffe blasted Schiff for the allegations.

“It’s funny that some of the people who complain the most about intelligence being politicized are the ones politicizing the intelligence,” Ratcliffe said. “Unfortunately, it is Adam Schiff who said the intelligence community believes the Hunter Biden laptop and emails on it are part of a Russian disinformation campaign.”

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/adam-schiff-accuses-trump-administration-of-obstruction-in-probe-of-dhs-whistleblower/

House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff accused the Trump administration of obstructing his investigation of a whistleblower in the Department of Homeland Security.

In response to this "obstruction," Schiff has issued subpoenas for the department and for its acting head of intelligence.

The power struggle arose from the investigation into claims from Brian Murphy, a DHS intelligence official who has alleged misconduct, illegality, and improper political influence from his superiors. In particular, he has claimed that he was instructed to ignore and downplay intelligence on threats from Russia and white supremacy while focusing instead on China, Iran, and left-wing domestic actors like "antifa."

But as Schiff has tried to investigate these striking allegations, DHS is putting up roadblocks.

According to the letter, Murphy's lawyers have been attempting to get a security clearance from the administration so that they can discuss sensitive matters with their client and appropriately advise him in his interactions with the committee. This is a routine process that should not be subject to political or partisan interference, but Schiff said it has been improperly delayed....

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adam needs to cowboy up

https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/experts-who-warned-trumpism-could-destroy-us-democracy-in-2018-are-even-more-worried-now-we-werent-alarmist-enough/

alex h

When Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s book, “How Democracies Die,” was released in January 2018, critics of the Harvard University political science professors described them as alarmists. The book had a dire warning: the United States’ liberal democracy was in danger because of Trumpism. But two years later, Levitsky and Ziblatt have not backed down from that message — in fact, they are now saying that they should have been more worried in 2018.

Levitsky told HuffPost, “Joe Scarborough ridiculed it on TV, saying, ‘These guys are alarmists.’ It turns out we weren’t alarmist enough.”

Scarborough, the Never Trump conservative who hosts MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” is no fan of President Donald Trump — who he bashes consistently. But when “How Democracies Die” came out, Scarborough argued that the United States’ democracy was robust enough to withstand Trump’s train wreck of a presidency. Scarborough, in a March 15, 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post, argued that American democracy was much stronger than Trump’s chaotic administration.

Journalist Travis Waldron, in HuffPost, notes that Levitsky and Ziblatt aren’t the only “political scholars” or “political leaders” who are “warning that 2020 is a referendum not just on Trump, but on the nation’s democratic experiment as a whole.” But Levitsky fears that too many Americans aren’t as worried as they need to be.

"People are getting killed over politics,” Levitsky told HuffPost. “There’s questions about whether the election will be free. Law enforcement bodies are being manipulated to protect allies of the president and go after rivals of the president. Things are happening on various fronts, and we’re not putting it all together and realizing that our democracy is on the line.”

Liberal democracies don’t necessarily come to power because of an armed coup d’etat or golpe de estado: in some cases, authoritarians are voted into office and gradually undermine a country’s checks and balances. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is an obvious example. And Waldron cites Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro as an example of a far-right authoritarian who was elected in a liberal democracy, warning that democracy in the U.S. is also in danger.

“Republicans in Congress have done whatever they can to protect Trump,” Waldron explains. “They blocked his removal from office after House Democrats impeached him and have kept administration officials from facing consequences for shirking their oversight duties.Without those checks, Trump has proceeded to do whatever he wants: fire inspectors general, attack the judiciary, violate laws and profit off his own office.”

Levitsky told HuffPost, “U.S. democracy has proven weaker and more vulnerable than I thought.”

Amy Erica Smith, a political science professor at Iowa State University, warns that some countries pretend to be democratic and have elections but are actually authoritarian states — or as she calls them, “hybrid regimes.”

“The number one defining feature of a hybrid regime is that the incumbent is using ― and I’ll say ‘his’ because almost always ‘his’ ― all of the benefits that come from office to get himself reelected in an unfair way,” Smith told HuffPost.

Waldron points to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian President Viktor Orbán as examples of authoritarians who pretend to hold fair elections and argues that Trump is trying to do the same type of thing in the U.S. “through his efforts to undermine the U.S. Postal Service and discredit the election as fraudulent before it even takes place — an admittedly odd tactic for a leader already in power…. Trump’s attacks on democracy are in effect thefinal shattering of the idea of American exceptionalism.”

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/department-of-homeland-security-acting-secretary-chad-wolf-speaks-at-an-event-at-dhs-headquarters-in-washington-wednesday-sept-9-2020-ap-photo-susan-walsh-dhs-whistleblower-accuses-chad-wolf-of/

kos

For weeks, Donald Trump ordered a rag-tag mix of border patrol, U. S. marshals, and other elements of federal enforcement—none of them trained to deal with the public—into the streets of Portland, Oregon, where they upped the level of violence, grabbed people off the street without charges, and savagelybeat a group of local moms trying to get them to halt their violence. After some weeks, Trump finally decided he’d done enough to generate footage for his doom-themed campaign commercials (with a few supplements) and took his beat-down squad off the streets.

Understandably, Congress would like to talk to the people who thought that dragging people into unmarked vans, shooting journalists in the face, defying local officials, and filling the streets with banned chemical weapons was a great idea. They’ve asked officials form the Department of Homeland Security to provide witnesses about the incident in Portland, and about ongoing efforts to create a make-believe threat of “antifa terrorists” to justify their actions, while ignoring their own analysisshowing the genuine threat posed by white supremacist groups.

At the same time, Congress is dealing with a whistleblower complaintfrom a former DHS official who says that Wolf ordered him to stop trying to both stop prevent Russian interference, and instead create a false narrative about China and Iran. That same officials says that the white supremacist threat was deliberately played down as DHS suppressed information that might be “embarrassing” to Trump. But the DHS has decided that it doesn’t want to talk about any of this. Instead, it’s refusing to provide witnesses to the House intelligence Committee, setting off yet another conflict between a Congress that needs to know the truth, and a White House that needs to keep the truth hidden.

Failing to cooperate with Congress in any way has become the hallmark of the Donald Trump White House. Statements that re supposed to be regularly provided to the House, are not being sent. Standard briefings are being halted. And from the moment he sat down, Trump has been bypassing Congress entirely with an unprecedented number of executive orders and the use of a national emergency declarationto get around the congressional budget.

as The Washington Post reports, DHS has sent a response to Congress saying that they simply have too many questions. They have “unreasonably broadened their scope” after getting the whistleblower complaint from former DHS official Brian Murphy who says he was twice told to stop reporting about the threat of Russian interference in the election—in spite of compelling evidence that Russia is absolutely interfering in the election. Murphy also reports that he was told to remove statements about white supremacists “to bring them in line with President Trump’s public comments.” Among his claims, Murphy says that a July analysis that showed Russia interfering in a way designed to help Trump was not released because “it was embarrassing to Trump.”

DHS officials have denied Murphy’s charges and claimed they are “looking forward” to an investigation. Except for the part where they cooperate with that investigation.

But DHS has tried to explain to Congress that everything is just fine. Rather than having anyone answer questions, assistant secretary Beth Spivey provided committee chair Adam Schiff with an email in which whistleblower Murphy says that “The acting secretary has never given me any direction on what to do Regarding [sic] threats,” only … it’s not a whole email. It’s just a that text from a larger statement … text that looks suspiciously as if even that tiny scrap has been edited.

Schiff has said the Intelligence Committee will consider “compulsory process” to force witnesses to appear, but so far the House has been unwilling to move forward with steps that would prevent the White House from simply turning any effort to pull in witnesses into a months-long court battle.

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/russia-is-interfering-on-trumps-behalf-again-and-hes-enraged-that-congress-now-knows-it-report/

no lnx

Russia is interfering on Trump’s behalf again — and he’s enraged that Congress now knows it: report

Written by Joan McCarter / Daily Kos February 20, 2020

There’s a bit more clarity now to the story of the briefing to the House Intelligence Committee that may or may not have contributed to acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire’s departure from the Trump administration. According to The New York Times, the mysterious briefing that Republicans and impeached President Donald Trump so objected to was about Russia interfering in this election, the 2020 one.

Five people familiar with the matter told the Times that the Feb. 13 briefing included a warning to lawmakers that Russia was interfering to get Trump reelected, a “disclosure that angered Mr. Trump, who complained that Democrats would use it against him,” as opposed to using it to try to secure the election and prevent Russia from mucking about in it again. The Times reports that the next day, Trump “berated Joseph Maguire, the outgoing acting director of national intelligence, for allowing it to take place” and the fact that Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee chairman, was present to hear it was “a particular irritant.”

It’s not too much of stretch to figure out who filled Trump in on all the details of the briefing, as a committee official said that ” members of both parties attended, including Representative Devin Nunes of California, the top Republican on the committee” and that it was indeed about the “integrity of our upcoming elections.” In what’s really not good news for the upcoming election, the Times reports that “Some intelligence officials viewed the briefing as a tactical error, saying that had official who delivered the conclusion spoken less pointedly or left it out, they would have avoided angering the Republicans.”

Not angering Republicans should not be the intelligence community’s concern at all. Not when they have credible information saying that this election is in jeopardy of Russian interference on behalf of the man who has already been impeached for trying to get another country to do the same

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/the-intelligence-community-erupts-as-trump-purges-everyone-opposed-to-russian-election-interference/

The intelligence community erupts as Trump purges everyone opposed to Russian election interference...

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trump-names-right-wing-troll-to-lead-intelligence-agencies/

no lnx

Trump names right-wing troll to lead intelligence agencies

Written by Heather Digby Parton / Salon February 21, 2020

...

Grenell is one of the most odious Trump toadies in the administration, and that’s really saying something. Like so many others, he came to Trump’s attention as a sharp-tongued Fox News personality. It’s likely that Trump didn’t know much about him other than the fact he was a big fan. That’s all it takes. Truthfully, if he’d known Grenell’s whole story he would like him even more.

Grenell held a few PR flak jobs in the government, working for the likes of John Bolton at the UN, where he was universally reviled.But he is best known as a Twitter troll, just like the president. He quit Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012, where he’d been hired as a foreign policy spokesman, after his Twitter feed was revealed to be full of nasty comments. During the 2016 campaign, he got back in the game and really made a name for himself as a crude and vicious Trump supporter.

Needless to say, Trump loved it and gave him the plum job of U.S. ambassador to Berlin, where he immediately alienated everyone in sight. On his very first day on the job, referencing the fact that Trump had withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal, Grenell tweeted that “Germans doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately.” Obviously he had no authority to dictate any such thing, and people in Germany were not amused, to say the least. Leaders of two German political parties have called him a “brat” and a “failure” and requested that he be withdrawn. No such luck.

Grenell has gone on to cultivate the far right in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, particularly Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz, the “boyish face” of his country’s far-right government. Grenell told Breitbart that he wanted to “empower” Kurz and others like him in Europe, which exceeds the job description of ambassador just a wee bit.

Most recently, he was implicated in the baroque Ukraine scandal, and particularly in the side plot involving Lev Parnas and Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash. Parnas was reportedly instructed (perhaps by Rudy Giuliani) to ask Grenell for a heads-up if the Department of Justice decided to seek Firtash’s extradition to the U.S. Grenell apparently agreed to do it, which was probably illegal.

Grenell’s name has been floating all over the Trump administration for a while, mentioned as a possible national security adviser after Bolton’s departure or a potential secretary of state if Mike Pompeo quits. He has no qualifications for any such posts, other than his personal fealty to Donald Trump.

The professionals in the intelligence community are reportedly very alarmed by Grenell’s appointment, as they should be. The DNI oversees all the U.S. intelligence services and has access to all the most important capabilities and secrets. It is unclear whether Grenell even has a top-level security clearance or could qualify for one.

This appointment was announced as yet another “acting” assignment, which seems odd since an acting DNI, Joseph Maguire, was already in place. (He has filled the job since last August, when Dan Coats departed.) Administration sources have said that Grenell will only serve until Trump nominates someone for the permanent position, which would require Senate confirmation, and won’t resign his position in Germany. So why put in another placeholder?

Late on Thursday, the Washington Post and the New York Times reported the answer: Trump wanted Maguire out immediately because his department had briefed the House Intelligence Committee last week and told members that the Russian government is once again interfering in the presidential campaign on Trump’s behalf. As usual, Trump is livid that members of his administration actually performed their legal and constitutional duties, and is determined to punish those who did. He was especially angry that Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a major villain in Trump World, was given this information.

Aside from Maguire, the second-ranking official in the DNI’s office, longtime intelligence professional Andrew Hallman, also announced his departure, leaving the top echelon without experienced leadership. But never fear, another Trumpian hack is on the way. According to Politico, hyper-partisan henchman Kash Patel, the former aide to Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif.,who played an important role in House Republicans’ attempts to discredit the Russia investigation, will come on board as “senior adviser” to Grenell.

It’s clear that Trump has moved his most dedicated disciples into the DNI’s office in order to prevent any more briefings on Russian interference on his behalf and to ensure that the intelligence community is brought to heel. Between this and Bill Barr’s unlimited mandate to investigate the intelligence on election interference from 2016, one can assume that the purge of anyone Trump considers a threat within the intelligence agencies or the Justice Department is now in full effect.

So in a sense Susan Collins was right. Trump has learned his lesson: Only proven Trump loyalists will run national security and federal law enforcement from now on. What could possibly go wrong?

Heather Digby Parton, also known as “Digby,” is a contributing writer to Salon. She was the winner of the 2014 Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism.

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/critics-of-blackwater-mercenary-erik-prince-fear-ag-barr-will-quash-doj-case-against-him-report/

no lnx

Critics of Blackwater mercenary Erik Prince fear AG Barr will ‘quash’ DOJ case against him: report

Written by Alex Henderson February 12, 2020

U.S. Attorney General William Barr has been consistently protective of President Donald Trump and his allies, and according to Law & Crime reporter Colin Kalmbacher, one of those allies might be Erik Prince — brother of Betsy DeVos (secretary of education in the Trump Administration) and former head of the infamous private security firm Blackwater.

Kalmbacher reports that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is “reportedly in the 11th hour of its decision-making process on whether to charge professional mercenary Erik Prince with the crime of lying to Congress amid the Russia probe in 2017.” Prince’s critics, Kalmbacher notes, allege that he gave false testimony to the House Intelligence Committee in 2017 “when discussing his meetings with a Russian banker in the Seychelles Islands” earlier that year. Prince described that meeting as a “chance” encounter and told House Intelligence members that he was not acting on Trump’s behalf, but his critics allege that he was.

One of Prince’s most vocal critics is Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who now chairs the House Intelligence Committee (which was in Republican hands back in 2017 during Prince’s testimony). Schiff alleges that former special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report for the Russia investigation demonstrates that Prince made “false statements” that “hindered the Committee’s ability to fully understand and examine foreign efforts to undermine our political process and national security.”

In a letter to Barr, Schiff asserted, “As the (Mueller) Report makes clear, evidence obtained by the special counsel…. differs materially from Mr. Prince’s testimony, under oath, before the Committee on November 30, 2017. The Report reveals that Mr. Prince’s testimony before the Committee was replete with manifest and substantial falsehoods that materially impaired the Committee’s investigation.”

Schiff added, “In particular, Mr. Prince’s testimony about his January 11, 2017 meeting in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive officer of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, differs from the (Mueller) Report in (several) material respects.”

But despite Schiff’s allegations against Prince, Kalmbacher reports, the case has “long languished for unclear reasons. And now that prosecutors are getting into position…. to potentially charge Prince, critics of Trump and Barr are largely unconvinced the case will move forward.”

On February 11, Prince critic Harry Litman (a Washington Post writer and former federal prosecutor) tweeted, “Prince plainly lied. We are really getting upriver here.”

Another Prince critic, Dr. Dena Grayson (who ran for Congress as a Democrat) tweeted that the DOJ has been “weighing” charges of lying to Congress against Prince but noted the possibility that “Barr quashes it.”

a little context here too: Prince plainly lied. we are really getting upriver here. https://t.co/fts8iTbka2

— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) February 11, 2020

??DOJ is weighing CRIMINAL charges against @BetsyDeVosED’s brother Erik Prince for arms trafficking & LYING to Congress about his secret #Seychelles meet with a close Putin adviser to establish a secret backchannel with #Russia????.

Until Barr quashes it.??https://t.co/2qMdHVNJjg

— Dr. Dena Grayson (@DrDenaGrayson) February 11, 2020

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/white-house-responds-to-acquittal-by-floating-vengeance-threat-at-adam-schiff/

...White House is out with a first official response to the Senate’s refusal to remove Donald Trump from office. It is mostly the usual claims of “witch hunt” and “full validation” and “exoneration” and a burping out of Trump’s supposed “victories” and accomplishments. It refers to Sen. Mitt Romney only as “one failed Republican presidential candidate.”

But this section is the most noteworthy:

Rep. Adam Schiff lied to Congress and the American people with a totally made up statement about the president’s phone call. Will there be no retribution?

Is that a threat? How could it not be considered one?

While attributed to the still-possibly fictional “press secretary” Stephanie Grisham, these are clearly Trump’s own words. He wrote this. And it does not appear (Susan Collins’ imagination notwithstanding) that this White House has taken anything from the exposure of Trump’s extortion, other than a new zealousness for “retribution” against Dear Leader’s critics.

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neglected until...

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/nsa-cia-are-now-attempting-to-withhold-documents-potentially-relevant-to-impeachment-house-intel-chairman

no lnx

NSA, CIA are now attempting to withhold documents ‘potentially relevant’ to impeachment: House Intel chairman

Written by Daily Kos January 19, 2020

On ABC’s This Week, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff confirmed a grim report that surface last week: The nation’s top intelligence officials are pushing Congress to cancel the year’s usual testimony to Congress on the nation’s top national security threats because they don’t want to publicly contradict Donald Trump’s false intelligence claims.

“Unfortunately, I think those reports are all too accurate. The intelligence community is reluctant to have an open hearing, something that we had done every year prior to the Trump administration, because they’re worried about angering the president,” Schiff responded.

It isn’t an idle concern, from intelligence officials. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was forced out of his position shortly after confirming to Congress that despite Trump’s claims to the contrary, the U.S. had no evidence Iran had an active nuclear weapons program.Trump had a public meltdown, which is a now-daily occurrence, and Coats was given the boot; in the latest degradation of this nation into a kleptocratic and autocratic state, government officials are now reluctant to testify in public about the true dangers facing the nation because if their pronouncements do not match Dear Leader’s political claims, Dear Leader will mark them as personal enemies.

Schiff’s follow-up was, if possible, worse: He also asserted that this nation’s intelligence agencies are now also withholding documents pertaining to the impeachment charges now filed against Trump.

“And I’ll say something even more concerning to me, and that is the intelligence community is beginning to withhold documents from Congress on the issue of Ukraine. The NSA, in particular, is withholding what are potentially relevant documents to our oversight responsibilities on Ukraine, but also withholding documents potentially relevant that the senators might want to see during the trial. There are signs that the CIA may be on the same tragic course.”

While Rep. Schiff was intentionally opaque on what Ukraine-related documents were being withheld from lawmakers, there does seem to be a new effort to withhold documents that the agencies had originally been expected to produce. Politico reports an unnamed Intelligence Committee “official” as saying: “Both the NSA and CIA initially pledged cooperation, and it appears now that the White House has interceded before production of documents could begin.”

We had long been told that Congress had, in cases of impeachment, necessarily sweeping oversight powers. Again we are learning that these powers can simply be taken away, so long as sufficient numbers in a president’s own party are willing to sign their own names to that act.

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Schiff pushes Pence to declassify aide’s secret information — implying it might be embarrassing or illegal

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https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/he-got-caught-adam-schiff-gives-impassioned-condemnation-of-trump-to-close-out-the-days-hearing/

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_inquiry_against_Donald_Trump

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https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/schiff-repeatedly-slaps-down-gops-immediate-attempts-to-derail-second-impeachment-hearing

Adam Schiff (D-CA) repeatedly rebuffed Republican efforts to derail the second day of public testimony in the impeachment inquiry.

Former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was scheduled to testify Friday about President Donald Trump and his associates pushing her out of her State Department post during a campaign to pressure the country’s government to announce an investigation of Joe Biden Schiff has previously said he would not allow lawmakers to ask questions intended to reveal the identity of a whistleblower whose complaint prompted the inquiry, but he rebuffed Stefanik without explaining why. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who was recently added to the committee, also tried to ask a question but Schiff repeatedly refused to recognize him and banged his gavel to quiet both GOP lawmakers. ===

lindsey graham censor?

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Schiff: Trump’s whistleblower tweets are an ‘incitement to violence’

David Badash / The New Civil Rights Movement

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CHAIR

Intelligence Committee — Adam Schiff

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has already become well-known as Devin Nunes’s rival and foil atop the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. But once he becomes chair, Schiff will be one of the most important figures setting the Democratic House’s investigatory agenda on Russia as well as other intelligence-related topics.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) stands for a TV interview at the US Capitol on November 29, 2018. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Schiff plans to use his subpoena power to more intensely probe Trump’s ties to Russia, since Democrats think their GOP predecessors’ investigation of the subject was incurious, and concluded far too quickly. And one particular interest of his is in following the money.

“One of the issues that has continued to concern me [is] the persistent allegations that the Trumps, when they couldn’t get money from US banks, were laundering Russian money,” Schiff recently said on the Lawfare Podcast. “If that is true, that would be a more powerful compromise than any salacious videotape or any aborted Trump Tower deal.” To that end, House Intelligence Committee Democrats are trying to hire money laundering and forensic accounting experts, the Daily Beast’s Betsy Woodruff and Spencer Ackerman reported.

That’s not the only money trail Schiff is interested in. The California Democrat has also said that he plans to investigate Trump’s financial ties to Saudi Arabia. “The president is not being honest with the country about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” Schiff said on CNN. “Is his personal financial interest driving U.S. policy in the Gulf?” he asked. “Are there financial inducements that the president has not to want to cross the Saudis?”

Schiff also thinks the administration’s North Korea policy is ripe for some oversight, and has questioned Trump’s rosy assessment of Kim Jong Un’s intentions. “The president keeps telling us that we can sleep well at night because North Korea is on the path to denuclearization, but I see no evidence of that,” he recently told Vox’s Alex Ward.

==

https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/top-intel-dem-accuses-official-of-illegally-withholding-credible-and-urgent-whistleblower-complaint

...When things really started going off the rails was when Maguire refused to hand over the complaint before the deadline. And then the Inspector General declared that the matter was serious, and urgent, and Maguire still refused to produce either the complaint or the evaluation.

...

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OMG

mirror/whataboutism?

https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/trump-and-his-henchmen-have-eagerly-dug-for-a-biden-scandal-in-ukraine-now-its-coming-back-to-bite-them

no lnx

Trump and his henchmen have eagerly dug for a Biden scandal in Ukraine. Now it’s coming back to bite them

Written by Bob Cesca / Salon September 10, 2019

As Donald Trump grows noticeably more desperate, he’s blundering his way into more unforced errors, metaphorically stepping on a series of rakes scattered on the White House lawn. With each careless step onto another rake, he keeps clobbering himself in the face again and again. In particular, Trump appears to be setting a trap for Joe Biden, should the former vice president win the Democratic nomination next year. But it’s a plot that’s already backfiring. After all, my rule remains: Trump always makes things worse for Trump.

Before we dig into the latest harrowing developments on this front, let’s review. Back in May, I wrote about a story originally reported by the New York Times involving Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden and Ukraine.

Late in the Obama administration, Joe Biden was dispatched to Kiev, armed with a relatively severe ultimatum. While there, the Times reported, Biden threatened to withhold a billion dollars in government loans unless the then-prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, was fired. Shortly thereafter, Shokin was indeed fired and replaced by Yuriy Lutsenko. The cash was released.

Here’s where it gets hinky — but not really. Prior to Biden arriving in Kiev, an investigation had been underway by prosecutor Shokin into a natural gas company called Burisma Holdings. One of the corporation’s board members was Hunter Biden, the vice president’s son and a New York lawyer who apparently pulled down a salary of $50,000 per month for his position with the company.

While it may look as if Biden exploited the loan money as leverage in order to kill an investigation into a corporation that employed his son, Bloomberg learned that the Burisma investigation had been shuttled to the back burner in 2015 before Biden’s trip and, the report added, the Obama administration’s intention was to convince the Ukrainian government to crack down on corruption in general.

A former Ukrainian official, Vitaliy Kasko, told Bloomberg, “There was no pressure from anyone from the U.S. to close cases against [Mykola] Zlochevsky.” Zlochevsky is the founder and owner of Burisma.

Fast forward to 2019. Somewhere around the time Rudy Giuliani held meetings with prosecutor Lutsenko in New York, Ukraine reopened the case against Burisma in March of this year (although Bloomberg disputes this detail as well). The Times also reported that Lutsenko took up the case again in order “to curry favor from the Trump administration for his boss and ally.”

Bloomberg and the New York Times agree in their reporting that Burisma was a topic of conversation between Giuliani and Lutsenko in Manhattan.

However, since Ukraine elected a new president, 41-year-old Volodymyr Zelensky, a reformer who’s not beholden to the Kremlin, prosecutor Lutsenko was replaced by Ruslan Riaboshapka in late August. So this means the Trumpers have to start from scratch, trying to convince the new Ukrainian government to keep digging into Hunter and Joe Biden. Naturally, Rudy answered the call, meeting with officials from the Zelensky administration in Madrid, according to the Times and confirmed by Giuliani, where Trump’s TV lawyer tried once again to convince Ukraine to focus on the Bidens.

The meeting must’ve gone badly because Trump has decided Prime Minister Zelensky isn’t an ally, and it probably doesn’t help that Zelensky isn’t a Putin disciple. Consequently, Trump has withheld $250 million in promised military aid to Ukraine, all while Ukraine continues to fight off Putin’s loyalists in that region. Trump also refuses to invite Zelensky to the White House.

Yes, it’s another gigantic, sloppy tongue-kiss for Putin from the president, further confirming Trump’s ongoing status as Putin’s puppet, endangering U.S. national security and undermining democracy here and elsewhere. And that’s not all …

It’s also collusion in plain sight. Trump and Giuliani are busily blackmailing Ukraine, leaving it vulnerable to Putin’s aggression, in order to strong-arm Zelensky into helping the Trump campaign defeat Joe Biden by manufacturing the whopper Democratic scandal of the 2020 election cycle.

As the Washington Post editorial board observed last week, “Mr. Trump is not just soliciting Ukraine’s help with his presidential campaign; he is using U.S. military aid the country desperately needs in an attempt to extort it.”

Fortunately, the House Intelligence Committee, along with both the Foreign Affairs and Oversight Committees, will launch simultaneous investigations into Trump’s and Giuliani’s attempted collusion with Ukraine. Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a statement:

A growing public record indicates that, for nearly two years, the President and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, appear to have acted outside legitimate law enforcement and diplomatic channels to coerce the Ukrainian government into pursuing two politically-motivated investigations under the guise of anti-corruption activity. As the 2020 election draws closer, President Trump and his personal attorney appear to have increased pressure on the Ukrainian government and its justice system in service of President Trump’s reelection campaign, and the White House and the State Department may be abetting this scheme.

What separates this investigation from the ongoing 2016 Trump-Russia collusion probe is the clear-as-crystal fact that Giuliani confessed to meeting with Andrii Telizhenko in May, and with Ukrainian official Andriy Yermak in August to try to make it all happen. The Trumpers stupidly wanted everyone to know what they were doing in order to hamfistedly inject the Biden story into the conservative-entertainment complex.

Ever the impulsive, erratic doofuses, the Trump team badly botched the story and instead of keeping their powder dry, they circled back for more. I guess William Barr’s factually inaccurate summary of the Mueller report convinced Trump that he could get away with anything, no matter how obviously corrupt it was. As a result, we’re looking at yet another impeachment article added to the conga-line of high crimes committed by this White House.

Of course, none of this will keep Trump from amplifying the Biden story when the time comes. Regardless of the facts and irrespective of further revelations from the congressional committees, Trump will frame the story as Biden colluding with Ukraine. The Republicans are never afraid of projection, that’s for sure. Worse, Trump will accuse the House committees of also colluding with Ukraine if and when documents are requested from Kiev, including a transcript of Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky.

The good news is that the story is complicated and therefore not easily summarized by a Trump tweet or with a rally zinger for Trump’s Red Hats to repeat like the dutiful fanboys they are. Democrats will have plenty of time to prepare a defense, knowing exactly where Trump is headed with this non-scandal. There’s also the distinct possibility this will all end up as another rake handle to Trump’s face, magnifying the fact that he’s not just grossly unfit for re-election, but grossly unfit to continue serving his first term as well.

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https://www.alternet.org/2019/03/watch-house-intel-chair-destroys-republicans-after-they-demand-he-step-down/

[triggered by mueuller /barr rept?]

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee are echoing President Donald Trump’s call for Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) to step down.

Among them, GOP Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas, who just claimed Schiff has abused his authority.

“We have no faith in your ability to discharge your duties,” Conaway said in a speech during a Committee hearing, sitting just feet away from the Chairman.

In a 4-minute response, Chairman Schiff accused Republicans on the Committee of thinking “it’s OK that the Russians offered dirt on a Democratic candidate,” then detailed about a dozen acts of the Trump campaign that “corrupt and evidence of collusion.”

“You might say that’s all okay,” he said. “You might say that’s just what you need to do to win, but I don’t think it’s okay. I think it’s immoral. I think it’s unethical. I think it’s unpatriotic. And yes, I think it’s corrupt and evidence of collusion.”Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee are echoing President Donald Trump’s call for Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) to step down.

Among them, GOP Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas, who just claimed Schiff has abused his authority.

“We have no faith in your ability to discharge your duties,” Conaway said in a speech during a Committee hearing, sitting just feet away from the Chairman.

In a 4-minute response, Chairman Schiff accused Republicans on the Committee of thinking “it’s OK that the Russians offered dirt on a Democratic candidate,” then detailed about a dozen acts of the Trump campaign that “corrupt and evidence of collusion.”

“You might say that’s all okay,” he said. “You might say that’s just what you need to do to win, but I don’t think it’s okay. I think it’s immoral. I think it’s unethical. I think it’s unpatriotic. And yes, I think it’s corrupt and evidence of collusion.”

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appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Erik Prince hid information about his attendance at a 2016 Trump Tower meeting to discuss Iran while under oath.

In an interview with on Al Jazeera’s “Head to Head,” Price stated that he was present at an Aug. 3, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower to “talk about Iran policy,” and that he disclosed information about that meeting even though it does not appear in a transcript of his testimony.

According to Schiff, Prince, the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, is dead wrong.

“There’s nothing wrong with our transcript,” Schiff explained. “There was nothing wrong with the reporter who transcribed his testimony. He did not disclose that meeting to our committee.”

You can watch the video below via NBC:

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