>>7554288

TYB

>>7554325

https://www.theepochtimes.com/29-house-democrats-in-trump-districts-voted-yes-on-impeachment-it-may-have-cost-them-their-jobs_3176074.html

29 House Democrats in Trump Districts Voted ‘Yes’ on Impeachment. It May Have Cost Them Their Jobs

BY JACK PHILLIPS

Comments December 18, 2019 Updated: December 18, 2019 Share

Impeachment against President Donald Trump is the likely litmus test for a few dozen vulnerable House Democrats whose districts voted for the president.

While some of these Democrats have run on moderate platforms to draw voters on both sides of the political aisle, a vote in favor of impeachment will surely imperil their chances in 2020. And Republicans strategists and Trump allies—armed with hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on elections—have already started to capitalize.

Following the 2018 midterms, 31 Democrats won districts Trump carried in 2016. But first things first, Democratic Reps. Jeff Van Drew (N.J.) and Collin Peterson (Minn.) have signaled they won’t vote in favor of impeachment, while Van Drew reportedly will switch to the GOP. Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) voted “yes” on abuse of power but didn’t vote to approve obstructing Congress.

Here are the 29 Democrats in Trump-leaning districts who voted “yes” on the two articles of impeachment. Both impeachment articles were approved by a mostly party-line vote. The abuse of power vote was approved 230-197-1. Obstruction of Congress was passed 229-198-1.

Rep. Angie Craig — yes

Rep. Kendra Horn —yes

Rep. Matt Cartwright — yes

Rep. Ben McAdams— yes

Rep. Anthony Brindisi — yes

Rep. Tom O’Halleran – yes

Rep. Lucy McBath — yes

Rep. Lauren Underwood — yes

Rep. Cheri Bustos — yes

Rep. Abby Finkenauer—yes

Rep. Dave Loebsack — yes

Rep. Cindy Axne – yes

Rep. Elissa Slotkin — yes

Rep. Haley Stevens — yes

Rep. Collin Peterson — no

Rep. Susie Lee — yes

Rep. Chris Pappas — yes

Rep. Jeff Van Drew — no

Rep. Andy Kim — yes

Rep. Josh Gottheimer— yes

Rep. Mikie Sherrill — yes

Rep. Xochitl Torres Small — yes

Rep. Max Rose — yes

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney — yes

Rep. Antonio Delgado — yes

Rep. Conor Lamb — yes

Rep. Joe Cunningham — yes

Rep. Elaine Luria — yes

Rep. Abigail Spanberger — yes

Rep. Ron Kind — yes

Rep. Jared Golden — yes on abuse of power, no on obstruction of Congress

A day before the vote, President Trump’s reelection campaign released polling numbers that suggest supporting impeachment may imperil these Democrats who hold seats in districts Trump carried in 2016.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/despite-warnings-fisa-court-did-absolutely-nothing-over-alleged-fisa-abuse-nunes_3178884.html

Despite Warnings, FISA Court ‘Did Absolutely Nothing’ Over Alleged FISA Abuse: Rep. Nunes

BY MIMI NGUYEN LY

4 Comments December 18, 2019 Updated: December 18, 2019 Share

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said that he warned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC or FISA court) twice last year of problems about the warrants it granted to the FBI to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, but the court “did absolutely nothing about it.”

ADVERTISING

“The way that the court has conducted themselves is totally inappropriate, they ignored clear evidence that we’d presented to them … they did absolutely nothing about it,” Nunes told Fox News host Martha McCallum late Tuesday. “They’ve left Congress no choice but to have to step in and fix this process.”

The FBI had in late October 2016 secured a FISA warrant and renewed it three times to surveil Page for a total of twelve months.

Nunes’s remarks Tuesday come after Judge Rosemary Collyer, the presiding judge of the FISA court, sent a letter (pdf) to the FBI criticizing it for misleading the court over its surveillance-application process. The letter also told the FBI that it has until Jan. 10 to come up with a solution.

That same day, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he would make FISA court reform the top priority for the committee in 2020.

Nunes added to Fox News: “I’m glad that the FISC court [has] come out and [made] a statement but your viewers need to know that the FISC is also culpable in this madness.”

The FISA court is made up of 11 judges who sign off on warrants related to national security and intelligence gathering. It “entertains applications submitted by the United States Government for approval of electronic surveillance, physical search, and other investigative actions for foreign intelligence purposes,” according to a description on the court’s website.

The FISA court had been warned twice in 2018 about the FBI’s FISA application (pdf) to surveil Page, but took no action, Nunes said. One of the letters was sent in February 2018 which warned the court “of very serious matters” regarding the FISA applications.

The letter was based on a memo (pdf)—commonly referred to as the Nunes memo—that Republicans in the House Intelligence Committee released at the time.

Nunes added that he also told the FISA court about “source #2,” which he said the FBI used alongside the Steele dossier and “fake news stories” to obtain the FISA warrant to surveil Page.

“Source #2” was mentioned in the report (pdf) released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Dec. 9 that found 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the FBI’s application and renewals for the FISA warrant to spy on Page.

Nunes said, “What we assumed when we wrote the original memo was that source two was legitimate. But later, Trey Gowdy, myself and John Ratcliffe and our investigative team, we began to look at source #2, and we discovered: number one, that they had actually begun spying before they even got the warrant, [and] number two, [that] they left all the exculpatory evidence—evidence that [the FBI] should have put forward on both Page and [another former Trump campaign aide George] Papadopoulos.

“I think Papadopoulos is really key because he’s the reason that they started the entire investigation and he denied it clearly. So at that point, when you have a full-blown [counterintelligence] investigation going on, you should do something. But the point here is that the court knew about all this,” Nunes added.

The FBI’s warrant applications relied almost entirely on an uncorroborated dossier compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele, who was hired by opposition research firm Fusion GPS and funded by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Steele compiled the dossier by using second- and third-hand sources with ties to the Kremlin.

Top FBI and DOJ officials signed off on the FISA warrants despite evidence that the dossier was unverified and that Steele was biased against then-candidate Donald Trump leading up to the 2016 presidential elections. The FISA application also omitted the fact that the Clinton campaign funded the dossier, as well as exculpatory details of Page’s assistance to the FBI.

The Steele dossier claims eventually became the foundation of the Trump-Russia narrative spread by some media outlets, politicians, and Obama administration officials. But none of the 103 key allegations contained in the Steele dossier were verified during former special counsel Robert Mueller’s 22-months-long investigation.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/president-is-just-getting-stronger-trump-campaign-responds-after-house-approves-impeachment_3178886.html

TRUMP PRESIDENCY

‘We Didn’t Lose One Republican Vote’: Trump Responds After House Approves Impeachment

BY JACK PHILLIPS

7 Comments December 18, 2019 Updated: December 18, 2019 Share

President Donald Trump held a rally in Battle Creek, Michigan, as the House approved two articles of impeachment mostly along party-line votes on Wednesday evening.

“We didn’t lose one Republican vote,” Trump told the crowd after both articles were approved. He told the crowd that the Democrat-led impeachment effort was “illegal” and “unconstitutional,” adding that it is a “political suicide march for the Democratic party.”

“You’re declaring open war on the American democracy,” he remarked.

Trump’s campaign also issued a statement immediately after the votes.

“The contrast between President Trump and the Democrats couldn’t be more clear,” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said in the statement. “While the President rallied with tens of thousands of citizens in Michigan and celebrated the greatness and success of America, Democrats in D.C. completed their cold, calculated, and concocted 3-year impeachment sham and voted against 63 million Americans. And the only part of the vote that was bipartisan was in opposition.

“The President is just getting stronger while support for the Democrats’ political theater has faded. Undeterred, President Trump keeps racking up victories for the American people, who will respond by resoundingly re-electing him next November.”

Throughout the day, Democrats and Republicans laid out their cases for and against impeachment. On the House floor, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) read the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance and then said, “Today we are here to defend democracy for the people.”

“For centuries, Americans have fought and died to defend democracy for the people. But, very sadly now, our founders’ vision of a republic is under threat from actions from the White House,” Pelosi remarked on the floor. “That is why today, as speaker of the House, I solemnly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the president of the United States,” Pelosi added. “If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty.”

Following Pelosi, Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), the House Judiciary Committee’s top Republican, said, “This an impeachment based on presumption. This is basically also a poll-tested impeachment on what actually sells to the American people. Today’s going to be a lot of things. What it is not, is fair. What it is not, is about the truth.”

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said, “The matter before the House today is based solely on a fundamental hatred of our president. It’s a sham, a witch hunt—and it’s tantamount to a coup against the duly elected president of the United States.”

“In America,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y), a member of the Judiciary Committee, echoing statements from the leaders of his caucus, “no one is above the law.”

Meanwhile, Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) claimed: “This is not about making history, this is about holding a lawless president accountable.”

As the impeachment inquiry progressed over the last few months, Trump vociferously denied the allegations against him, ending in his writing a blistering letter to Speaker Pelosi and her caucus on Tuesday as the House Rules Committee voted to send the two articles of impeachment—obstruction of Congress and abuse of power—to the full House floor.

Trump accused the Democrats of abusing their power as the majority party in the House.

“You have developed a full-fledged case of what many in the media call Trump Derangement Syndrome and sadly, you will never get over it!” Trump wrote. “More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials,” he continued.

Noting the timing of the impeachment vote, Trump remarked that Americans will exact payback against the Democrats in November 2020.

“I have no doubt the American people will hold you and the Democrats fully responsible in the upcoming 2020 election,” Trump wrote to Pelosi. “They will not soon forgive your perversion of justice and abuse of power.”

Democrats said Trump withheld millions of dollars in foreign aid to Ukraine in exchange for investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden, who had sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas firm, Burisma Holdings, which had been accused of corruption Senator Lindsey Graham, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Republican chairman, said on Wednesday he would want any impeachment trial in the Senate to be quick and with no new witnesses—relying on the evidence used by the House.

Removing Trump from office would require a two-thirds majority of those present and voting in the 100-member Senate, meaning at least 20 Republicans would have to vote to convict the president.

https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/18/fbi-blows-off-senators-request-on-materials-related-to-ukrainian-dnc-contractor-in-2016/

FBI Blows Off Senators’ Request On Materials Related To Ukrainian DNC Contractor In 2016

DECEMBER 18, 2019 By Tristan Justice

The FBI ignored Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin’s requests last month for information related to former Democratic National Committee (DNC) contractor and her efforts to dig up dirt on the Trump campaign from Ukrainian officials.

In November, Johnson and Grassley gave the FBI a Dec. 9 deadline to meet their demands to hand over information found over the course of an investigation into a cyberattack on the DNC.

Politico reported in 2016 that Chalupa met with a government official from the Ukrainian embassy for damaging information on the Trump campaign. Later that year, Yahoo News reported that Chalupa was the target of a cyberattack while she was working at the DNC prompting FBI investigators to question Chalupa and take digital forensic images of her computer and smartphone.

“If this reporting is accurate, it appears that the DOJ and FBI have in their possession material relevant to our Committees’ ongoing investigation into collusive actions Chalupa and the DNC took to use foreign government sources to undermine the Trump campaign during the 2016 election,” Grassley and Johnson wrote to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

According to a Taylor Foy, a spokesman for Grassley’s office, the FBI has yet to respond to the senators’ demands for interview notes and the materials related to Chalupa’s devices.

The senators’ requests to the FBI came in the midst of House impeachment proceedings centering on President Donald Trump and his dealings with Ukraine. Democrats and the media have alleged Trump conspired with his Ukrainian counterpart to interfere in the next election by investigating the Biden family in exchange for the release of nearly $400 million in military aid being withheld in an apparent “quid pro quo.” The aid however, was ultimately released and the Ukrainian president has denied knowledge of any such arrangement. Further, an unredacted transcript of the phone call declassified and released to the public reveals no scheme to pressure the Ukraine government into investigating political rivals.

Instead, the transcript shows President Trump requesting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky investigate the origins of its involvement in peddling the Russia hoax in the United States and root out corruption in his own country.

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, served on the board of a Ukrianian energy company earning $50,000 a month without any prior experience in the industry while Joe Biden was dictating U.S. policy towards Ukraine.

A Federalist analysis of Hunter Biden’s compensation reveals the former vice president’s son made far more than comparable compensation packages to board members of other companies.

Ukraine’s involvement in pushing Russigate is well-documented. Grassley and Johnson’s demands for more information from the FBI on the issue would shed further light in the public’s interest on Ukraine’s election meddling in 2016.