A court filing made today by Special Counsel Jack Smith suggests that he has evidentiary testimony from members of Congress who can corroborate the role failed former president Donald Trump played in efforts to overturn the 2020 election and organize the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.
Specifically, Smith is requesting that when witnesses are cross-examined at Trump’s upcoming federal trial in Washington, D.C., the ex-president’s attorneys should be barred from asking questions that might breach either attorney-client privilege or the Speech and Debate clause, which applies specifically to members of the U.S. House and Senate.
MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin laid out exactly what Smith’s latest filing means in a series of tweets.
NEW: Jack Smith and team just filed a motion to exclude various kinds of evidence & arguments at Trump’s election interference trial, including the oft-recited claim that the case is itself a form of election interference or vindictive and selective prosecution. 1/
They also seek to exclude evidence about 1/6, including evidence about agency preparation for that day or cross-examination that would cause unnamed government witnesses to breach attorney-client privilege or protection under the Constitution’s Speech and Debate clause. 2/
But maybe as significant is that the motion was made at all. The case is stayed as Trump’s immunity claims work their way through the D.C. Circuit, where oral argument is scheduled for 1/9. 4/
Smith et al promised they would keep meeting their pre-trial deadlines, to Team Trump’s angry rebuke, which amounted to, “A stay means a stay. You can’t & won’t force us to work while we appeal.” 5/
Expect Team Trump to do more this time than file a sharp, swift reply. Will they ask Judge Chutkan to force Smith & co. to knock it off during the stay? Stay tuned…. FIN.
It’s safe to say that if indeed Smith has testimony from Republicans who had intimate knowledge of Trump’s role in what transpired in the last days of the previous administration, Donnie is beyond screwed.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) has a message for her Republican colleagues in the House of Representatives who voted this week to open a formal impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden: You’re going to regret that decision.
Appearing on MSNBC, Crockett told host Jonathan Capehart that she will be dragging failed former president Donald Trump’s crimes into the hearings and hinted that she may also go after Republicans who sit on the House Oversight Committee.
Capehart asked the Texas Democrat, “As a member of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, what role do you expect to play in this impeachment inquiry process?”
“Yes, absolutely,” Crockett replied. “We are going to be the truth-tellers. We are the ones who cut through the noise and make sure that the American people know that this is nothing more than political theater and games. We are also going to try to juxtapose what it would look like if we had the adults in the room who were running this committee.”
“We will make sure that we juxtapose what it looks like when this committee runs the way that it is supposed to as well as we will bringing out the hypocrisy which exists.”
Crockett then elaborated on how she will contrast Trump with Biden.
“We have Trump on one hand and Biden on the other. We have all of these insurrectionists, congresspersons, and then we’ve got Hunter Biden, you know. We will make sure that the American people and know that this is just not the tree that they want to bark up on.”
When the dust settles, don’t be surprised if the GOP impeachment gambit winds up backfiring on them in a major way and costs them the 2024 election. The only reason they’re doing it is to appease Trump, and that’s not likely to sit well with most voters.
Earlier this week, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) voted to open an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, but when MSNBC host Symone Sanders tried to ask why he had done so, he got defensive and suggested she was a “Democrat operative.”
That was an enormous mistake on Burchett’s part.
Sanders asked the congressman what evidence he had that would prove the president committed high crimes or misdemeanors. Rather than answer, Burchett recited a hackneyed talking point about the president taking repayments for a truck loan from his son, Hunter.
“I haven’t heard a high crime or misdemeanor yet,” Sanders told Burchett.
“Are you gonna let me answer the question, ma’am? I know you’re a Democrat operative and work for a Democrat consulting firm, but —“
Sanders: “Alright, congressman, let’s do it then.”
“I did use to advise a number of individuals, I’ve also advised some corporations and companies, but here I’m just here to be an advocate for the viewer,” she said. “And I will ask you one last time. What is the evidence that the committee has that Joe Biden, while he was president, committed a high crime, misdemeanor, or treason. Because that is the bar for an impeachment inquiry.”
Burchett responded, “You have to ask yourself, ma’am, why a vice president or a president would get $40,000 through a Chinese communist corporation…”
Once again, Sanders put Burchett in his place.
“With that thank you very much, congressman it’s always a pleasure, you just can’t come on here and lie.”
Republicans don’t have diddly squat when it comes to proving their harebrained conspiracy theories about President Biden. But that won’t keep them from marching in lockstep like good cult members to please their lord and savior, Donald Trump.
A Republican senator is warning his colleagues in the House of Representatives who are moving ahead with an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden that their flimsy charges “may not be impeachable” and wind up accomplishing nothing but embarrassing the party in the midst of the 2024 election.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said on Newsmax that the House should only pursue impeachment if their case is incredibly strong and based on indisputable evidence.
“Send us a case, make sure it’s convictable,” Mullin advised. “And the bar is real high, there’s no question, it’s got to be a misdemeanor, a high crime, or treason. And the other bar is it has to be committed while [Biden] was in office, the current office he holds. So what he did as a vice president, what he did in between the two, may not be impeachable.”
What exactly are House Republicans basing their impeachment inquiry on? Two items, both of which have been fully explained and debunked.
Republicans allege that when Biden was vice president, he demanded that Ukraine fire a government prosecutor who was suspected by the United States and its allies of dragging his heels on fighting corruption in the country, which is allied with the West.
But Biden was merely following the policy of President Barack Obama and top officials in the Obama administration.
At the time the prosecutor was under suspicion, Biden’s son, Hunter, was serving on the board Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.
The other allegation against Biden is that while he was a private citizen, he accepted repayment of a truck loan from Hunter, though such a move is not and never has been illegal in any U.S. jurisdiction.
Simply put, House Republicans are pursuing their bogus “inquiry” for one reason and one reason only: To provide a smokescreen for their likely 2024 presidential nominee, Donald Trump, who has been indicted on 91 criminal charges and may have shared classified intelligence with our adversaries.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has been saying for months that President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, have been engaged in financial crimes involving shell companies used to allegedly funnel foreign contributions to the Biden family, which means the president is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, and that warrants impeachment and removal from office.
On Wednesday, Comer got what he wanted in the form of a vote from his GOP colleagues to formally open an impeachment inquiry of President Biden.
However, it now appears that Comer has been engaged in the very same behavior he says is proof of illegality by the Bidens, according to an explosive report from The Associated Press.
But as Comer works to “deliver the transparency and accountability that the American people demand” through the GOP’s investigation, his own finances and relationships have begun to draw notice, too, including his ties to prominent local figures who have complicated pasts not all that dissimilar to some of those caught up in his Biden probe.
At issue are six acres of land owned by Comer and his wife which are also co-owned via a shell company by a large contributor to Comer’s campaign, which certainly appears to be a serious conflict of interest.
The AP found that Farm Team Properties functions in a similarly opaque way as the companies used by the Bidens, masking his stake in the land that he co-owns with the donor from being revealed on his financial disclosure forms. Those records describe Farm Team Properties as his wife’s “land management and real estate speculation” company without providing further details.
It’s not clear why Comer decided to put those six acres in a shell company, or what other assets Farm Team Properties may hold. On his most recent financial disclosure forms, Comer lists its value as being as much as $1 million, a substantial sum but a fraction of his overall wealth.
Comer is certainly sensitive about his own shell company and loans he’s made to family members, as was in evidence in November when Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) accused the chairman of potential wrongdoing and also called him out for his hypocrisy.
“I think you owe it to the American people to explain why you’ve gone on Fox News and told people that while the president was out of office, he had a loan with his brother,” Moskowitz said, despite that “it has come out in the public that you also do business with your brother with potential loans.”
An enraged Comer replied that he’d done nothing wrong and also called Moskowitz a “Smurf” simply because the Florida Democrat happened to be wearing a blue suit at the time.
If Comer continues to push for impeaching Biden, he can likely expect that referrals will be made to the House Ethics Committee referencing the shell company he owns with the donor to his campaign. Though the action may not be illegal, it certainly raises questions about what Comer may be hiding and whether or not he’s using the Biden family as a smokescreen for his own shady business deals.
In other words, karma is coming for James Comer, and when it arrives, it’s going to take a giant bite out of him.
