And it's ignorant to be cheering on a hard line stance waiting on tsa agents to quit before something happens. 30 days later every single one of those votes is nothing but symbolic.
Giuliani Is Drastically Changing the Trump-Collusion Narrative, But it Looks Like He’s Just Getting Started by Ronn Blitzer | 2:19 pm, January 17th, 2019 Rudy Giuliani nearly broke Twitter Wednesday night with his comments on possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign during a CNN interview. Despite President Donald Trump claiming for years that there was “no collusion” between his campaign and Russia, and that Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation of this is a “witch hunt,” Giuliani now claims that while Trump himself didn’t collude, he’s not saying others did not. This latest shift in the narrative from Giuliani led some in the Twittersphere to wonder what the next change to Team Trump’s approach will be. Spoiler Fortunately, in that same interview, Giuliani dropped a pretty big hint, and he didn’t waste any time doing it. It happens at the 26-second mark of the video below. “There is not a single bit of evidence that the President of the United States committed the only crime you could commit here, conspired with the Russians to hack the DNC,” Giuliani said. Giuliani is trying to narrow the focus of how he wants people to look at the collusion angle by focusing solely on the Russian hack of Democratic National Committee emails. The problem is that his matter-of-fact statement that this is “the only crime you could commit here” is just not true. There are a number of possible illegal activities that Trump or his campaign could have committed in connection with Russia. For starters, it’s illegal for foreign nationals to make campaign contributions, and it’s likewise illegal for candidates or their campaigns to accept them. 52 USC § 30121 states that it is prohibited someone to “solicit, accept, or receive” any “contribution or donation of money or other thing of value … in connection with a Federal, State, or local election.” This means that if Russia gave the Trump or his campaign money, or any materials or information that have monetary value, that would likely be a violation. It would also be a crime if Trump or his campaign conspired with Russia for a crime other than the DNC hack. For starters, there’s also the hack of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta‘s emails. There is also speculation that Giuliani is worried about how the latest revelations about Paul Manafort could impact Trump. By claiming that “the only crime you could commit” is conspiring with the DNC hack, Giuliani seems to be planting the seeds for his next move, a misdirection play: focus on the crime that (supposedly) didn’t happen, not the ones that may come out later. Giuliani appears poised to claim that any other suspected crimes weren’t really crimes at all. Conservative author Jerome Corsi has already sued Mueller, denying that he had any involvement with or advance knowledge of the Podesta email hack, despite speculation that he and Roger Stone may have been involved with WikiLeaks, for the benefit of the Trump campaign. Giuliani could easily echo Corsi’s denial when it comes to that. Rudy also has an excuse in place should there be any evidence that Russians gave any illegal campaign contributions. Remember what happened when Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to arranging illegal contributions in the form of payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, and claimed it was all at Trump’s direction. Giuliani insisted that these weren’t even crimes. If evidence of Russian campaign contributions comes to light, expect more of the same. As for Manafort, Giuliani is already in spin mode, downplaying the allegation that Manafort shared Trump campaign polling data with Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik. Giuliani insisted that sharing polling data is no big deal, although as CNN legal analyst Elie Honig noted , one could make an argument that it could have been part of an effort to illegally solicit a foreign contribution. So far, we don’t have any solid evidence linking Trump or his campaign to these crimes or any others, but Giuliani’s latest spin on the situation give the impression that he’s worried something is coming. If so, we now have a good idea of how he’ll handle it. [Image via Alex Wong/Getty Images] This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author. from Law and Crime
stop... You are just being argumentative. We all made fun of it. Congress was also out of session when he traveled.
Ignoring his childish antics - I dont think they should be traveling during a shutdown. They really should be doing anything until they can find a way to reopen the government
I get the point, but Pelosi/the democrats have done/are doing everything they can. It's not like they can make Mitch vote
It was made fun of because it was a last-second pivot after he was getting roasted for not going and not having gone before. Had he scheduled a “pump up the troops” visit like a normal president it would have been perceived the same way the preceding trips were.
If you give him everything he wants, that isn’t a negotiation. It isn’t compromise. It’s isnt a deterrent from him doing the exact same thing again.
Pelosi is running interference for the 2020 candidates The more of Trump's attention that Pelosi can attract the less time he'll spend on whoever comes out of the primaries.
this doesn't make a ton of sense to me. I'd rather them go do congressional type duties if Trump isn't gonna budge. Why just sit in DC? For optics?
its been mentioned here several times, but Id really like to see them start turning the screws on that melted wax turtle looking dipshit
I just don't think the reasoning to justify not going should have any relation to efforts to open up the government. Their side of it has done everything in their abilities so far that doesn't include bending the knee. Also, it's not as though she's going over for PR. She's going over to handle congressional duties unlike the cheeto's trip to Iraq
They did everything, they had a bill all set with the Republicans until Trump stepped in and demanded his pet projected be paid for with American dollars instead of Mexican currency. Why would the Democrats give in? Politics is not checkers, its chess. Trumps fat mouth put him in this position, and people want the democrats to give in? Fuck that, Trumps dead in the water, dont throw him shit.
The fact that the Majority Leader can hold the country hostage by not holding votes is a pretty huge flaw in the foundation IMO. There needs to be an overrule of that and the media needs to get off its ass and talk about McConnell’s role in this. He, more than Trump, is the one letting this thing drag on. Fuck that turkey-looking motherfucker.
Passing symbolic votes does nothing. They don't need to give him everything. They could force him to say no to half. Doing permanent damage for a political win is stupid for both sides, and after 27 days that's what you're getting. Easy to cheer for symbolic votes when you are ignorant of the consequences.
I am aware of the consequences. I am also aware of the consequences of telling Trump (and Republicans in general) that this is an acceptable way to negotiate
i realize you're closely impacted by the situation and not able to be objective about it but not budging on the wall and legitimizing this behavior as an accepted form of governance isnt a political win. its the right thing to do
He hasn't because they haven't voted on that or presented the option. Guaranteed that gives republicans and out to vote on it and put pressure on the senate. The wall isn't going to get built regardless.
Pretty big time difference. Of course it can happen still, but why go now? I'm not criticizing her for it, but why throw out any red meat that could be used to show a lack of eagerness to end the shutdown even if we know it is 100% not her fault.
They already agreed to give him 25 Billion in the past and he completely fucked everything up. They already agreed to give him like 1.6 Billion, recently and he didn't take it. He's turned down money numerous times for a fucking wall he has zero plan for.
right. Or, just maybe, I have a better understanding of what the consequences for the political win are than people cheering from the sidelines. Tell that to all the janitors, grounds maintenance, security staff, students, interns, contracted technicians who aren't working and not getting paid. Sorry that it gets old seeing people cheering for something they don't completely understand.
the fact that the speaker has to meet with world leaders to reaffirm our commitment to nato ffs bc our idiot president won’t is insane and should be the bigger story out of this trip cancellation but gonna take a wild guess and say the media ignores it
They had a deal though, why is your anger not directed at the individual that is creating the problem? Democracy worked, and then Trump stepped in, and now you want everyone to just give in to him?
Motherfucker, one party is holding this country hostage and the other isn't. This is all on Trump, it's been pointed out he has been given multiple bills to sign that had money for the wall and security, the bill he declined had $5 billion and he said that wasn't enough. You don't negotiate with a toddler who says all he wants for dinner is cookies.
like i said you’re not going to be objective about it and that’s fine. it sucks that you’re being put in this position by the gop but funding the wall and showing that all he has to do is throw a temper tantrum to get funding is wrong and not something that myself or most americans support