Today's News (2020/1/27)
Jan. 27th, 2020 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdAn Impeachment Trial Without Witnesses Would Be Unconstitutional
And a resulting acquittal verdict would present Americans with something far worse than a constitutional crisis.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/impeachment-trial-without-witnesses-would-be-unconstitutional/605332/
On the opening day of the impeachment trial, the Senate, in a party-line vote of 53–47, approved an organizing resolution establishing the ground rules for the trial and rejecting efforts by Democrats to compel the testimony of witnesses and the production of documents not included by the House in its impeachment inquiry. However, the resolution allows Democrats to renew their motions to subpoena witnesses and documents after House managers and the president’s defense lawyers have completed their opening statements. The fateful battle over witnesses will thus begin in earnest next week.
In December, Donald Trump became only the third U.S. president to be impeached. If Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell succeeds in his intention to prevent any witnesses from testifying, Trump will become the first president to be acquitted by an unconstitutional impeachment process.
McConnell has created the mistaken impression that the Constitution does not provide any guidance about the impeachment process, and that the procedures for the trial—including motions to call witnesses—can be determined by a majority vote. Although the Senate has broad discretion to set the rules for the trial, Supreme Court Justice Byron White, in a concurring opinion in Nixon v. United States (1993), a case involving the impeachment of federal Judge Walter Nixon, found in the impeachment-trial clause of Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution a limitation on the method by which the Senate can conduct an impeachment proceeding. The text of the clause states, “The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.” Justice White interpreted the word try to mean that the impeachment proceeding must be in the nature of a judicial trial, and concluded that “a procedure that could not be deemed a trial by reasonable judges” would be unconstitutional.
-----
Democrats call for Bolton to testify in Trump impeachment trial after new report on aid to Ukraine
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-call-for-bolton-to-testify-in-trump-impeachment-trial-after-new-report-on-aid-to-ukraine/2020/01/26/de234402-409a-11ea-b503-2b077c436617_story.html
Congressional Democrats called for former national security adviser John Bolton to testify in President Trump’s impeachment trial following a new report that the president told Bolton last August that he wanted to withhold military aid to Ukraine unless it aided investigations into the Bidens.
The New York Times reported Sunday evening that in last summer’s conversation, Trump directly tied the holdup of nearly $400 million in military assistance to the investigations of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. That is according to an unpublished manuscript of Bolton’s forthcoming book, the Times said.
The book, “The Room Where It Happened,” is scheduled for publication March 17, but a White House review could attempt to delay its publication or block some of its contents.
-----
Trump Rages: Bolton Is Lying About Ukraine to Sell His Book
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-claims-bolton-is-lying-about-ukraine-to-sell-his-book
President Trump has reacted furiously to a leaked manuscript from former National Security Adviser John Bolton that accuses Trump of tying U.S. military aid to Ukraine to investigations into the Biden family. The explosive claim hints that Bolton is prepared to seriously damage Trump’s defense case if he’s called to testify in the president’s impeachment trial. The former national security adviser has offered to testify if subpoenaed, over the White House’s objections. Reacting to the leak, which was first reported by The New York Times, the president tweeted shortly after midnight: “I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens,” he wrote. “In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book.” CNN reports the Bolton book, The Room Where It Happened, is due out on March 17. Following confirmation of the book’s release, congressional Democrats renewed calls for the former national security adviser to testify in the impeachment trial.
-----
Republicans fear "floodgates" if Bolton testifies
https://www.axios.com/john-bolton-testimony-trump-impeachment-trial-853e86b0-cc70-4ac6-9e5f-a8da07e7ac93.html
There may be enough new pressure on Senate Republicans to allow witnesses at President Trump's impeachment trial, after the leak from a forthcoming book by former national security adviser John Bolton that contradicts what the White House has been telling the country.
-----
Chuck Schumer
twitter.com/SenSchumer
The NYTimes report suggests multiple top Trump Admin officials knew the facts and deliberately misled Congress and the American people.
A massive White House cover-up.
All we need is four Republican Senators to get the truth.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/26/us/politics/trump-bolton-book-ukraine.html
-----
Meadows: Republicans that break with Trump could face political repercussions
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/480151-meadows-republicans-that-break-with-trump-could-face-political-repercussions
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said he believes Senate Republicans who break with President Trump on impeachment will likely face political backlash during an interview with CBS Evening News slated to be aired Monday evening.
His comments come as centrist GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber face mounting pressure to vote to bring in additional witnesses for the trial in the wake of a bombshell New York Times report. The Times reported Sunday night that former national security adviser John Bolton wrote in his upcoming memoir that President Trump told him him aid to Ukraine was conditional upon the country launching investigation into the Bidens.
Meadows, one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress who was selected to serve on the president’s impeachment defense team, said yes when asked by Norah O'Donnell if Republican senators "face political repercussions" if they deviate from Trump.
-----
Prepping for a race war: documents reveal inner workings of neo-Nazi group
Chats, audio and video obtained by the Guardian give a rare insight into the workings of a disturbing white supremacist group
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/25/inside-the-base-neo-nazi-terror-group
The Base, a US-based white supremacist “social network” that has recently been targeted by the FBI in raids leading to the arrest of several members, was active, growing and continuing to prepare for large-scale violence.
The Guardian has obtained chat records, audio recordings and videos provided by an anti-fascist whistleblower who spent more than a year charting the inside workings of the Base.
The same infiltrator took control of The Base’s telegram channel in the early hours of Saturday morning, US time, and posted multiple memes mocking the group’s founder, Rinaldo Nazzaro.
The Guardian studied leaked materials relayed by the whistleblower and pursued other lines of inquiry to exclusively reveal the real identity of the Base’s secretive leader as Nazzaro, 46, from New Jersey.
Nazzaro is currently living in Russia with his Russian wife. Until the Guardian’s exposé little was known about his background and he was only known by the alias “Norman Spear”.
-----
Amazon employees cite ‘moral responsibility’ in speaking out on climate, despite risk of losing their jobs
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-employees-cite-moral-responsibility-in-speaking-out-on-climate-despite-risk-of-losing-their-jobs/
More than 350 Amazon employees defied a company ban on unapproved external communications to call out what they see as the retail and technology giant’s still-inadequate approach to the climate crisis.
In a Medium post, a news release and online video released Sunday and Monday, the employees praised the steps that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos committed the company to last September, but railed against what one called Amazon’s “unconscionable” business with the oil and gas industry. They also objected to an updated external communications policy — provided to employees in September, a day after the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice group announced plans for a walkout as part of the Global Climate Strike — calling it a “reprehensible overreach” and asserting a “moral responsibility” to speak out on climate.
Earlier this month, members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice said Amazon had threatened to fire at least two outspoken employees for violating the external communications policy, in what many of them view as a crackdown on dissent within the corporate ranks.
And a resulting acquittal verdict would present Americans with something far worse than a constitutional crisis.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/impeachment-trial-without-witnesses-would-be-unconstitutional/605332/
On the opening day of the impeachment trial, the Senate, in a party-line vote of 53–47, approved an organizing resolution establishing the ground rules for the trial and rejecting efforts by Democrats to compel the testimony of witnesses and the production of documents not included by the House in its impeachment inquiry. However, the resolution allows Democrats to renew their motions to subpoena witnesses and documents after House managers and the president’s defense lawyers have completed their opening statements. The fateful battle over witnesses will thus begin in earnest next week.
In December, Donald Trump became only the third U.S. president to be impeached. If Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell succeeds in his intention to prevent any witnesses from testifying, Trump will become the first president to be acquitted by an unconstitutional impeachment process.
McConnell has created the mistaken impression that the Constitution does not provide any guidance about the impeachment process, and that the procedures for the trial—including motions to call witnesses—can be determined by a majority vote. Although the Senate has broad discretion to set the rules for the trial, Supreme Court Justice Byron White, in a concurring opinion in Nixon v. United States (1993), a case involving the impeachment of federal Judge Walter Nixon, found in the impeachment-trial clause of Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution a limitation on the method by which the Senate can conduct an impeachment proceeding. The text of the clause states, “The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.” Justice White interpreted the word try to mean that the impeachment proceeding must be in the nature of a judicial trial, and concluded that “a procedure that could not be deemed a trial by reasonable judges” would be unconstitutional.
-----
Democrats call for Bolton to testify in Trump impeachment trial after new report on aid to Ukraine
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-call-for-bolton-to-testify-in-trump-impeachment-trial-after-new-report-on-aid-to-ukraine/2020/01/26/de234402-409a-11ea-b503-2b077c436617_story.html
Congressional Democrats called for former national security adviser John Bolton to testify in President Trump’s impeachment trial following a new report that the president told Bolton last August that he wanted to withhold military aid to Ukraine unless it aided investigations into the Bidens.
The New York Times reported Sunday evening that in last summer’s conversation, Trump directly tied the holdup of nearly $400 million in military assistance to the investigations of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. That is according to an unpublished manuscript of Bolton’s forthcoming book, the Times said.
The book, “The Room Where It Happened,” is scheduled for publication March 17, but a White House review could attempt to delay its publication or block some of its contents.
-----
Trump Rages: Bolton Is Lying About Ukraine to Sell His Book
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-claims-bolton-is-lying-about-ukraine-to-sell-his-book
President Trump has reacted furiously to a leaked manuscript from former National Security Adviser John Bolton that accuses Trump of tying U.S. military aid to Ukraine to investigations into the Biden family. The explosive claim hints that Bolton is prepared to seriously damage Trump’s defense case if he’s called to testify in the president’s impeachment trial. The former national security adviser has offered to testify if subpoenaed, over the White House’s objections. Reacting to the leak, which was first reported by The New York Times, the president tweeted shortly after midnight: “I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens,” he wrote. “In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book.” CNN reports the Bolton book, The Room Where It Happened, is due out on March 17. Following confirmation of the book’s release, congressional Democrats renewed calls for the former national security adviser to testify in the impeachment trial.
-----
Republicans fear "floodgates" if Bolton testifies
https://www.axios.com/john-bolton-testimony-trump-impeachment-trial-853e86b0-cc70-4ac6-9e5f-a8da07e7ac93.html
There may be enough new pressure on Senate Republicans to allow witnesses at President Trump's impeachment trial, after the leak from a forthcoming book by former national security adviser John Bolton that contradicts what the White House has been telling the country.
-----
Chuck Schumer
twitter.com/SenSchumer
The NYTimes report suggests multiple top Trump Admin officials knew the facts and deliberately misled Congress and the American people.
A massive White House cover-up.
All we need is four Republican Senators to get the truth.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/26/us/politics/trump-bolton-book-ukraine.html
-----
Meadows: Republicans that break with Trump could face political repercussions
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/480151-meadows-republicans-that-break-with-trump-could-face-political-repercussions
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said he believes Senate Republicans who break with President Trump on impeachment will likely face political backlash during an interview with CBS Evening News slated to be aired Monday evening.
His comments come as centrist GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber face mounting pressure to vote to bring in additional witnesses for the trial in the wake of a bombshell New York Times report. The Times reported Sunday night that former national security adviser John Bolton wrote in his upcoming memoir that President Trump told him him aid to Ukraine was conditional upon the country launching investigation into the Bidens.
Meadows, one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress who was selected to serve on the president’s impeachment defense team, said yes when asked by Norah O'Donnell if Republican senators "face political repercussions" if they deviate from Trump.
-----
Prepping for a race war: documents reveal inner workings of neo-Nazi group
Chats, audio and video obtained by the Guardian give a rare insight into the workings of a disturbing white supremacist group
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/25/inside-the-base-neo-nazi-terror-group
The Base, a US-based white supremacist “social network” that has recently been targeted by the FBI in raids leading to the arrest of several members, was active, growing and continuing to prepare for large-scale violence.
The Guardian has obtained chat records, audio recordings and videos provided by an anti-fascist whistleblower who spent more than a year charting the inside workings of the Base.
The same infiltrator took control of The Base’s telegram channel in the early hours of Saturday morning, US time, and posted multiple memes mocking the group’s founder, Rinaldo Nazzaro.
The Guardian studied leaked materials relayed by the whistleblower and pursued other lines of inquiry to exclusively reveal the real identity of the Base’s secretive leader as Nazzaro, 46, from New Jersey.
Nazzaro is currently living in Russia with his Russian wife. Until the Guardian’s exposé little was known about his background and he was only known by the alias “Norman Spear”.
-----
Amazon employees cite ‘moral responsibility’ in speaking out on climate, despite risk of losing their jobs
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-employees-cite-moral-responsibility-in-speaking-out-on-climate-despite-risk-of-losing-their-jobs/
More than 350 Amazon employees defied a company ban on unapproved external communications to call out what they see as the retail and technology giant’s still-inadequate approach to the climate crisis.
In a Medium post, a news release and online video released Sunday and Monday, the employees praised the steps that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos committed the company to last September, but railed against what one called Amazon’s “unconscionable” business with the oil and gas industry. They also objected to an updated external communications policy — provided to employees in September, a day after the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice group announced plans for a walkout as part of the Global Climate Strike — calling it a “reprehensible overreach” and asserting a “moral responsibility” to speak out on climate.
Earlier this month, members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice said Amazon had threatened to fire at least two outspoken employees for violating the external communications policy, in what many of them view as a crackdown on dissent within the corporate ranks.
