If you don’t know now you know... #TrumpIsGuilty
— Sweet T@CRMEducation
😂 Technophobes #SIGINTEL #FiveEyes #5eyes #Resisters #GetToWork
Russian agents have been accused of worldwide hacking operations, but someone at the Kremlin has apparently forgotten to inform Vladimir Putin of the importance of cyber-security.
Putin, 67, appears to have the obsolete Microsoft Windows XP operating system installed on computers in his office at the Kremlin and at his official Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow, according to images released by his press service.
No Trump?
Both computers have the Kremlin towers set as their desktop backgrounds.
Official Russian photo from PCMag
"The argument, 'why don't you just wait' amounts to this:
that’s what that argument amounts to”
Was the House Intelligence Committee briefed before the impeachment hearings?
In a briefing that closely aligned with Dr. Hill’s testimony, American intelligence officials informed senators and their aides in recent weeks that Russia had engaged in a yearslong campaign to essentially frame Ukraine as responsible for Moscow’s own hacking of the 2016 election, according to three American officials. The briefing came as Republicans stepped up their defenses of Mr. Trump in the Ukraine affair.
The revelations demonstrate Russia’s persistence in trying to sow discord among its adversaries — and show that the Kremlin apparently succeeded, as unfounded claims about Ukrainian interference seeped into Republican talking points.
American intelligence agencies believe Moscow is likely to redouble its efforts as the 2020 presidential campaign intensifies. The classified briefing for senators also focused on Russia’s evolving influence tactics, including its growing ability to better disguise operations.
“I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary, and that Ukraine — not Russia — attacked us in 2016,” Hill
During a news conference in February 2017, Mr. Putin accused the Ukrainian government of supporting Hillary Clinton during the previous American election and funding her candidacy with friendly oligarchs.
Senator Angus King, independent of Maine and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who declined to answer questions about the briefing.
“These people are pros at this,” said Mr. King, who caucuses with the Democrats. “The Soviet Union used disinformation for 70 years. This is nothing new. Vladimir Putin is a former K.G.B. agent. He is trained in deception. This is his stock and trade and he is doing it well.”
Republicans have sought for weeks amid the impeachment inquiry to shift attention to President Trump’s demands that Ukraine investigate any 2016 election meddling, defending it as a legitimate concern while Democrats accuse Mr. Trump of pursuing fringe theories for his benefit.
The Republican defense of Mr. Trump became central to the impeachment proceedings when Fiona Hill, a respected Russia scholar and former senior White House official, added a harsh critique during testimony on Thursday. She told some of Mr. Trump’s fiercest defenders in Congress that they were repeating “a fictional narrative” — and that it likely came from a disinformation campaign by Russian security services, which themselves propagated it.
“There is a long history of Russians putting out fake information,” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior C.I.A. official. “Now they are trying to put out theories that they think are damaging to the United States.”
Mike Pompeo is guilty of Obstruction of Justice by
Sondland said he sent an email to Lisa Kenna, an executive assistant at the Department of State, on August 11, saying that he'd helped to negotiate a statement from Mr Zelensky, and said "the contents will hopefully make the boss happy enough to authorise an invitation (to the White House)".
She replied: "Gordon, I'll pass to S," meaning Mr Pompeo.
Later that month, Mr Sondland discussed with Mr Pompeo the possibility of pushing Mr Zelensky to pledge during a planned meeting with Mr Trump in Warsaw that he would take the steps being sought by Mr Trump.
Mr Pompeo said he approved the plan, it's claimed, but Mr Trump later cancelled his trip to Poland.
I’m so glad @RepAdamSchiff called trump out for witness intimidation based on his real time tweets about Yovanovitch WHILE she was testifying, and how visibly shaken the witness was in hearing those attacks. #witnessintimidation #ImpeachmentInquiry #TrumpBribery
— Mueller, She Wrote Podcast @MuellerSheWrote
😂 this morning Trump’s longtime friend and adviser
PBS LIVESTREAM: The Trump Impeachment Hearings - Day 2
👏👏👏 Kim Wehle. #ImpeachmentHearings
To which Trump’s allies respond: Who cares? If no actual exchange occurred, the argument goes, then attempted bribery can’t give rise to an impeachable offense. This logic runs counter to the standard interpretation of American criminal laws, and it also doesn’t let Trump off the hook for other offenses—including his improper handoff of a major foreign-policy matter to Giuliani.
These handoffs of government power to private entities at least are transparent to the public and carry some kind of official imprimatur. The Supreme Court has tolerated them on a number of theories, which boil down to the notion that, so long as Congress and the executive branch retain some measure of oversight, the handoffs are constitutionally legitimate.
He is not working pursuant to a government contract containing legal remedies for the United States if he breaches the terms of his employment.
He did not take an oath of office to uphold and defend the Constitution—unlike members of Congress, who will have to weigh that oath heavily as the evidence bearing on impeachment mounts in the coming weeks.
He is not bound by federal conflict-of-interest, transparency, or ethics laws—including the Freedom of Information Act—passed by prior Congresses to ensure that people entrusted with the American populace’s authority to self-govern do their jobs with integrity to the Constitution, the rule of law, and the norms that undergird our system of justice.
This is an abuse of power, plain and simple. Trump tapped someone who operated outside the U.S. Constitution and federal law to supplant sworn diplomats and implement a policy that has wholly private objectives aimed at helping Trump personally, to the detriment of the foreign-policy interests of the United States.
Who
Among the many revelations in the transcript of Ukraine Special Adviser Catherine Croft’s testimony to the House is the fact that acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who also oversees the Office of Management and Budget, put a hold on a shipment of Javelin missiles to Ukraine not just as part of an apparent scheme to force Ukrainian officials to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, but also out of concern that Russia would be angry.
“In a briefing with Mr. Mulvaney, the question centered around the Russian reaction,” said Croft in the transcript. When pressed, she added the fear was specifically “that Russia would react negatively to the provision of javelins to Ukraine.”
The Grim Reaper is here for more than Trump’s impeachment 😉
“We gather here on that opening day with our families gathered round to proudly raise our hands to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Pelosi said. “That is exactly what we are doing today. Sadly this is not any cause for any comfort. This is something that is very solemn, that is something prayerful. And that we had to gather so much information to take us to this next step. Again, this is a solemn occasion. Nobody, I doubt anybody in this place, or anybody that you know, comes to Congress to take the oath of office, comes to Congress to impeach the president of the United States. His actions are jeopardizing our honoring our oath of office.”
“This resolution ensures transparency, advancing public disclosure of depositions transcripts, and outlying the procedures for the transfer of evidence to the judiciary Committee to use in its proceedings,” she explained. “It enables effective public hearings setting out procedures for the questioning of witnesses and continuing the precedent of giving the minority the same rights in questioning witnesses as the majority. Which has been true at every step of this inquiry despite what you might hear.”
“This flag, so many have fought and died for this flag, which stands for our democracy,” she continued. “When Benjamin Franklin came out of Independence Hall, you heard this over and over, on September 17, 1787, the day our Constitution was adopted. He came out of Independence Hall, people said to him, ‘Dr. Franklin, what do we have a monarchy or a republic?’ And he said, as you know, he said, ‘A republic, if we can keep it.’ If we can keep it. And this Constitution is the blueprint for our republic and not a monarchy.”
“I don’t know why the Republicans are afraid of the truth”
“So what is at stake? Is our democracy. What are we fighting for? Defending our democracy for the people.”
“We gather here on that opening day with our families gathered round to proudly raise our hands to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
— Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
Happy Halloween 🎃
