Cornered by Nancy OhanianTrump has used the presidency to enhance his own business interests more than he's worked for the interests of the United States or the chumps and easy marks who voted for him in 2016. As Anita Kumar wrote in her Politico essay, How Trump fused his business empire to the presidency yesterday, Señor T "has yet to face accountability for blatant conflicts of interest tied to his private businesses... He has spent one out of every three days as president visiting one of his luxury resorts, hotels or golf courses. He has leveraged his powerful international platform to promote his developments dozens of times. And he has directed millions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers to his businesses around the globe. In three years in the White House, Donald Trump has accomplished something no president before him has done: fusing his private business interests with America’s highest public office."Presumably Pelosi doesn't want any of that mentioned in the trial. Her handpicked impeachment managers-- or at least Schiff and Nadler (and with her guidance) sent this out to the media yesterday. Excerpt:
NadlerThe American people entrusted President Trump with the extraordinary powers vested in his Office by the Constitution, powers which he swore a sacred Oath to use for the Nation’s benefit. President Trump broke that promise. He used Presidential powers to pressure a vulnerable foreign partner to interfere in our elections for his own benefit. In doing so, he jeopardized our national security and our democratic self-governance. He then used his Presidential powers to orchestrate a cover-up unprecedented in the history of our Republic: a complete and relentless blockade of the House’s constitutional power to investigate high Crimes and Misdemeanors.President Trump maintains that the Senate cannot remove him even if the House proves every claim in the Articles of impeachment. That is a chilling assertion. It is also dead wrong. The Framers deliberately drafted a Constitution that allows the Senate to remove Presidents who, like President Trump, abuse their power to cheat in elections, betray our national security, and ignore checks and balances. That President Trump believes otherwise, and insists he is free to engage in such conduct again, only highlights the continuing threat he poses to the Nation if allowed to remain in office.Despite President Trump’s stonewalling of the impeachment inquiry, the House amassed overwhelming evidence of his guilt. It did so through fair procedures rooted firmly in the Constitution and precedent. It extended President Trump protections equal to, or greater than, those afforded to Presidents in prior impeachment inquiries. To prevent President Trump’s obstruction from delaying justice until after the very election he seeks to corrupt, the House moved decisively to adopt the two Articles of impeachment. Still, new evidence continues to emerge, all of which confirms these charges.Now it is the Senate’s duty to conduct a fair trial-- fair for President Trump, and fair for the American people. Only if the Senate sees and hears all relevant evidence-- only if it insists upon the whole truth-- can it render impartial justice. That means the Senate should require the President to turn over the documents he is hiding. It should hear from witnesses, as it has done in every impeachment trial in American history; it especially should hear from witnesses the President blocked from testifying in the House. President Trump cannot have it both ways. His Answer directly disputes key facts. He must either surrender all evidence relevant to the facts he has disputed or concede the facts as charged. Otherwise, this impeachment trial will fall far short of the American system of justice.President Trump asserts that his impeachment is a partisan “hoax.” He is wrong. The House duly approved Articles of impeachment because its Members swore Oaths to support and defend the Constitution against all threats, foreign and domestic. The House has fulfilled its constitutional duty. Now, Senators must honor their own Oaths by holding a fair trial with all relevant evidence. The Senate should place truth above faction. And it should convict the President on both Articles.
Adam Schiff by Nancy OhanianNeither article mentions that he and his family are world-class grifters and that grifting is the goal of his time in the White House. As Kumar wrote, "Trump’s early decision to maintain his grip on his sprawling real estate empire-- despite his pledge to put his business aside while in the White House-- has created a vast web of potential conflicts of interest, accusations about his policies being driven by his business interests and even possible violations of the law, according to documents and interviews."
The intersections between Trump Inc. and President Trump are everywhere: A Chinese state-owned company was awarded a multimillion contract to help develop a Trump golf course in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, amid a U.S.-China trade war. T-Mobile executives stayed at Trump's Washington hotel while seeking a green light from the federal government for a merger. The IRS commissioner, who refused to release Trump’s tax returns to Congress, collects rent from a pair of Trump condos in Hawaii....“The level of this is shocking and deeply disturbing,” Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.), a member of House leadership who serves on the Judiciary Committee. “This president has a habit of doing things out in the open, which are completely improper or even illegal and somehow ... the average person thinks, ‘Well, if he’s doing it out in the open it must be OK; I must not completely understand the rules.’ But it’s not.”...“President Trump is openly enriching himself by encouraging government entities to spend money at his businesses, and foreign entities appear to frequent his business to curry favor with this administration,” said House Oversight and Reform Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). “President Trump must be held accountable for his blatant disregard for the Constitution.”
Many that's part of the reason no one but third rate hacks and far right ideologues are agreeing the work for the regime. Nancy Cook looked into the tough time Trump is having filling positions-- more so than any other president in modern history. Qualified people don't want his overwhelming stench of corruption rubbing off on them. Even with a Senate entirely in his pocket, it takes much longer to confirm his unqualified nominees than it has for normal presidents. There are still 170 unfilled positions. Graham Kates reporting for CBS News had a good example: the Secretary of the Navy, a job for which Trump has nominated a string of failed imbeciles. His latest is Kenneth Braithwaite, who tried hiding his relationship to Cambridge Analytica-- which helped Trump steal the 2016 election. Braithwaite was caught. "A willful failure to include a job or consulting position on the Office of Government Ethics Form 278e can be a violation of federal law," wrote Kates. "Braithwaite denies any relationship with Cambridge Analytica that would require this disclosure. Two of the records reviewed by CBS News indicate Braithwaite agreed to a one-year contract with the company beginning on November 1, 2016, one week before Donald Trump was elected president. His apparent role, referred to as both 'associate officer' and 'referral partner' in the records, has not previously been reported.
Trump announced in a tweet on November 24 that he had picked Braithwaite to lead the Navy. He would replace Richard Spencer, who was fired that same day for his handling of an internal review of a Navy SEAL who had been accused of war crimes. Braithwaite's nomination for Secretary of the Navy has not yet been formally sent to the Senate, but at least one senator is already planning to revisit his 2017 confirmation for ambassador. A spokesperson for Senator Bob Menendez, the ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement to CBS News that the New Jersey Democrat "will be reviewing this matter closely and seeking additional information," referring to the potential contract with Cambridge Analytica."We take the vetting of all nominees very seriously. If true, these reports raise serious questions about how forthcoming Ambassador Braithwaite was during his confirmation process. Failing to disclose a contract with Cambridge Analytica would be totally unacceptable and align Mr. Braithwaite with a growing number of Trump administration officials who have been either flagrantly negligent or intentionally dishonest in their dealings with the U.S. Senate," said Juan Pachon, the senator's spokesperson.
I can just imagine a Trump v Biden campaign, each claiming that the other is more corrupt and that the other's family is more corrupt. America deserves better... right? We still do, don't we? I have a much better idea for a Democratic nominee, one who will kick Trump's ass from Maine to Hawaii and beat him across the Midwest where Hillary failed so badly. Who? Tap the thermometer above. Oh-- and there will be no appointments like Braithwaite... or Bannon or Stephen Miller or William Barr. Of that you can be absolutely certain.