The Bulwark: “When the whistleblower filed the complaint, the Office of the Inspector General quickly concluded that it was both credible and ‘a matter of urgent concern.’ Consequently, the OIG had a legal duty to report it to Congress. But when the OIG filed what should have been a pro-forma notification of the complaint with the Director of National Intelligence, something happened. Instead of facilitating the passing of the complaint to the congressional intelligence committees as the law requires, the administration began a frantic effort to bottle it up, permanently.”
Mueller Findings Could Become Impeachment Articles
Politico: “Now that House Democrats have wrapped up public hearings on President Trump’s pressure campaign to get Ukraine to launch politically advantageous investigations, there are plans to hold at least one public impeachment hearing on Trump’s misdeeds as alleged in the special counsel’s report.”
“It’s a gathering that could fuel articles of impeachment beyond those tied to the Ukraine controversy. Democrats say they have new Mueller-related fodder after Roger Stone’s recent trial raised questions about whether Trump provided false statements to the special counsel’s team. And the hearing could even feature a star witness — former White House counsel Don McGahn. A judge is set to rule in the coming days on whether McGahn must comply with a House subpoena.”
Hegde Fund Bets on Big Market Drop
Bridgewater, the world’s biggest hedge fund, has bet more than $1 billion that stock markets around the world will fall by March, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The wager, assembled over a span of months and executed by a handful of Wall Street firms, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, would pay off… if either the S&P 500 or the Euro Stoxx 50 declines.”
Barr Blames ‘Screw Ups’ for Jeffrey Epstein’s Death
Attorney General William Barr told the Associated Press that he initially had his own suspicions about financier Jeffrey Epstein’s death while behind bars at one of the most secure jails in America but came to conclude that his suicide was the result of “a perfect storm of screw-ups.”
Said Barr: “I can understand people who immediately, whose minds went to sort of the worst-case scenario because it was a perfect storm of screw-ups.”
Pelosi Will Participate In CNN Town Hall
Speaker Nancy Pelosi will participate in a CNN town hall in December, where she will take questions directly from a cross-section of voters as her colleagues consider articles of impeachment against President Trump, CNN reports.
Jake Tapper will moderate the December 5 event that will air live at 9 p.m. ET from Washington, DC.
House Wants Tax Returns for Impeachment Probe
Los Angeles Times: “Lawyers for the House, citing the ‘rapidly advancing impeachment inquiry,’ urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to reject President Trump’s bid to shield his tax returns and financial records from congressional investigators.”
What’s Next for the Impeachment Probe?
Politico: “The Judiciary Committee will draft and vote on articles of impeachment and send those to the full House for debate, that much is clear. But how the Judiciary panel completes the already unorthodox impeachment process is still up in the air. Though lawmakers and aides expect the 1998 proceedings against former President Bill Clinton to be the model for the Trump case, they’re quick to emphasize they haven’t been told how the endgame will play out.”
“In fact, Judiciary Committee members have received little guidance from party leaders on how the panel will conduct the proceedings or the timeframe for completing them, according to interviews with more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers and aides. They know that the Intelligence Committee will send a report to Judiciary, but beyond that, they don’t know the number of hearings, format, or the timeline for finishing up work.”
Mountain of Impeachment Evidence Is Beyond Dispute
“After two weeks of riveting public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry into President Trump, there is a mountain of evidence that is now beyond dispute,” the AP reports.
“Trump explicitly ordered U.S. government officials to work with his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on matters related to Ukraine, a country deeply dependent on Washington’s help to fend off Russian aggression. The Republican president pushed Ukraine to launch investigations into political rivals, leaning on a discredited conspiracy theory his own advisers disputed. And both American and Ukrainian officials feared that Trump froze a much-needed package of military aid until Kyiv announced it was launching those probes.”
“Those facts were confirmed by a dozen witnesses, mostly staid career government officials who served both Democratic and Republican administrations. They relied on emails, text messages and contemporaneous notes to back up their recollections from the past year.”
The Impeachment Witnesses Not Heard
New York Times: “As the committee wrapped up its public hearings on Thursday, House Democrats have opted for expeditious over comprehensive, electing to complete their investigation even without filling in major gaps in the story. It is a calculated gamble that they have enough evidence to impeach Mr. Trump on a party-line vote in the House and would risk losing momentum if they took the time to wage a court fight to compel reluctant witnesses to come forward.”
Kemp Resists Pressure from Trump on Senate Pick
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is resisting pressure from President Trump on who to appoint to an interim U.S. Senate post, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In recent days, the president has spoken to Mr. Kemp at least twice—once face-to-face in Atlanta and once on the phone—urging him to pick Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), a vocal supporter of the president in Congress… Mr. Collins, a white conservative from north Georgia, has pushed for months to get the seat that Sen. Johnny Isakson, 74 years old, is leaving at the end of the year because of health problems.”
“But the governor is leaning toward appointing a female or minority candidate to improve the GOP’s chances in Atlanta’s burgeoning suburbs, key battlegrounds in the 2020 elections.”
FBI Official Altered Document In Russia Probe
“An FBI official is under criminal investigation after allegedly altering a document related to 2016 surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser,” several people briefed on the matter told CNN.
“The possibility of a substantive change to an investigative document is likely to fuel accusations from President Donald Trump and his allies that the FBI committed wrongdoing in its investigation of connections between Russian election meddling and the Trump campaign.”
How the Secret Service Spends at Trump Properties
“The U.S. Secret Service paid more than $250,000 to President Trump’s private businesses in just the first five months of his presidency — paying Trump’s company an average of nearly $2,000 per day,” the Washington Post reports.
“The president has set up an extraordinary arrangement: He kept ownership of his businesses — and then visited them repeatedly, bringing along aides and security officials and charging the government for what they bought.”
How Donald Trump Jr. Made the Bestseller List
New FEC disclosures show a single large RNC payment of $94,800 to Books-a-Million in October, a few days before Triggered was released, the New York Times reports.
An RNC spokesman confirmed that the expenditure was connected to their promotion of Donald Trump Jr.’s book.
‘Domestic Political Errand’
“Fiona Hill’s extraordinary answer about her relationship with the American ambassador to the European Union was ultimately a finely distilled description of what the impeachment hearings are all about: President Trump’s pursuit of a ‘domestic political errand’ that came at the expense of American foreign policy,” CNN reports.
“It was stunning in its clarity, but also that it came during the Republicans’ turn for questioning.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“I did say to him, ‘Ambassador Sondland, Gordon, this is going to blow up.’ And here we are.”
— Fiona Hill, quoted by CNN, in testimony before the House impeachment inquiry.
‘Could I Actually Say Something?’
In a stunning moment at Thursday’s impeachment hearing, Fiona Hill asked whether she may respond to Republican attacks, after three GOP congressman in a row used their five-minute question allotments to criticize the impeachment inquiry and its witnesses, Axios reports.
Said Hill: “I don’t believe there should be any interference of any kind in our election… That’s actually why as a nonpartisan person and as an expert on Russia and an expert on Vladimir Putin and on the Russian security services, I wanted to come in to serve the country to try to see if I could help.”
Kennedy Asked Trump to put Kavanaugh on Court
“It was a historic moment in April 2017 when Supreme Court justice Anthony M. Kennedy presided over the ceremonial Rose Garden swearing-in for the court’s new member, Neil M. Gorsuch: the first time a sitting justice was joined on the nation’s highest court by one of his former law clerks,” the Washington Post reports.
“But a secret meeting moments later in the White House was just as significant, according to a new book by Ruth Marcus.”
“Kennedy requested a private moment with President Trump to deliver a message about the next Supreme Court opening, Marcus reports. Kennedy told Trump he should consider another of his former clerks, Brett M. Kavanaugh, who was not on the president’s first two lists of candidates.”
- The Republicans began plotting their takeover of the Supreme Court thirty years ago. Brett Kavanaugh set his sights on the court right out of law school. Washington Post journalist and legal expert Ruth Marcus goes behind the scenes to document the inside story of how their supreme ambition triumphed.
- Hardcover Book
- Marcus, Ruth (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
White House Wants a Senate Trial
Politico: “A group of Republican senators met Thursday morning with White House counsel Pat Cipollone, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner to discuss impeachment strategy.”
“Two attendees said that the White House wants the Senate to hold a trial of some length and not immediately dismiss any articles of impeachment with the GOP’s majority, as some Republicans have suggested. The White House and Trump’s GOP allies decided instead ‘they want some kind of factual affirmative defense on the merits,’ said one attendee.”
The Washington Post says the proceedings in the Senate that could be limited to about two weeks.