Which way to Kiev?William Kristol had some advice for Congress yesterday. In his Bulwark column he offered a roadmap for what the House and Senate can do about the whistleblower report and the Ukraine. He began with a charming quote from Virgil's Aeneid that describes what Trump's time in the White House must feel like for #NeverTrump Republicans:
The gates of hell are open night and day;Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:But to return, and view the cheerful skies,In this the task and mighty labor lies.
No collusion? How can anyone deny that Señor Trumpanzee "seems to have demanded that a foreign government provide information on a domestic political rival as a condition for foreign policy decisions by the United States."The problem, of course is that though it's essential to "discover the whole truth of this possibly impeachable offense... the ball is in Congress’s court. A fast, focused, and thorough investigation of what happened needs to be Congress’s priority. And Hoyer and Pelosi are as big an impediment to that as McConnell is in the Senate. Nevertheless, Kristol lays out his dream scenario as though Pelosi (79) and Hoyer (80) have brains that are still functioning and that McConnell wasn't shat out of Satan's ass:
The House of Representatives should establish a small, competent, select committee to determine the truth of the Ukraine matter. This committee’s investigation should be separate from those rehashing the Mueller report or looking into other Trump administration controversies.The select committee should investigate the Ukraine matter alone, with a view to discovering whether impeachable offense has been committed. (It would be fine if this were a joint select committee of the House and Senate, and that offer should be made to Mitch McConnell.)The select committee should be given full powers of investigation and instructed to move with expedition. The House should make clear that failure by the administration to cooperate with this committee is itself a potentially impeachable offense.This committee could hold hearings in private (on classified or sensitive matters) as well as in public. It will have to be ready to sweep broadly through the executive branch in search of information on the assumption of non-cooperation by the Trump White House.It needs to have a short timetable to complete its work-- say, a month?-- and the administration needs to be expressly told that non-cooperation and obstruction may well be considered grounds for impeachment.The committee should of course be bipartisan-- but if Republican leadership refuses to cooperate, it must go ahead in any case. Its members should be selected for merit and relevant expertise.It’s up to the speaker and others to figure out how to make this work. What’s key is that the House separate this matter from others under discussion, because this matter has been the subject of no previous investigation and is of particular gravity, and move quickly.Hoc opus, hic labor est. This is “the task and mighty labor” that now lies before the United States Congress.
After days of denial on Twitter, Trump finally admitted to reporters in Texas yesterday that he talked with the Ukrainian president about Biden. "The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, was largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place. It was largely the fact that we don’t want our people, like Vice President Biden and his son, creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine."UPDATE: Impeachment Starts Tomorrow-- First Shot FiredPelosi called a closed caucus meeting at 4pm (ET), Tuesday. When that ends, she and her geriatric leadership team will come out and she will announce that nearly the whole caucus is united and that Congress will begin a formal impeachment inquiry. Tonight, 7 conservative freshmen-- Gil Cisneros (New Dem-CA), Jason Crow (New Dem-CO), Chrissy Houlahan (New Dem-PA), Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA), Mikie Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ), Elissa Slotkin (New Dem-MI) and Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)-- released a faux heroic statement about how they're finally game re: impeachment. Several military freshmen are missing from the list: Andy Kim (D-NJ), Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY), who has already announced "fuck you all" and Jared Golden (D-ME).
Our lives have been defined by national service. We are not career politicians. We are veterans of the military and of the nation’s defense and intelligence agencies. Our service is rooted in the defense of our country on the front lines of national security.We have devoted our lives to the service and security of our country, and throughout our careers, we have sworn oaths to defend the Constitution of the United States many times over. Now, we join as a unified group to uphold that oath as we enter uncharted waters and face unprecedented allegations against President Trump.The president of the United States may have used his position to pressure a foreign country into investigating a political opponent, and he sought to use U.S. taxpayer dollars as leverage to do it. He allegedly sought to use the very security assistance dollars appropriated by Congress to create stability in the world, to help root out corruption and to protect our national security interests, for his own personal gain. These allegations are stunning, both in the national security threat they pose and the potential corruption they represent. We also know that on Sept. 9, the inspector general for the intelligence community notified Congress of a “credible” and “urgent” whistleblower complaint related to national security and potentially involving these allegations. Despite federal law requiring the disclosure of this complaint to Congress, the administration has blocked its release to Congress.This flagrant disregard for the law cannot stand. To uphold and defend our Constitution, Congress must determine whether the president was indeed willing to use his power and withhold security assistance funds to persuade a foreign country to assist him in an upcoming election.If these allegations are true, we believe these actions represent an impeachable offense. We do not arrive at this conclusion lightly, and we call on our colleagues in Congress to consider the use of all congressional authorities available to us, including the power of “inherent contempt” and impeachment hearings, to address these new allegations, find the truth and protect our national security.As members of Congress, we have prioritized delivering for our constituents-- remaining steadfast in our focus on health care, infrastructure, economic policy and our communities’ priorities. Yet everything we do harks back to our oaths to defend the country. These new allegations are a threat to all we have sworn to protect. We must preserve the checks and balances envisioned by the Founders and restore the trust of the American people in our government. And that is what we intend to do.
Not everyone was all that heroic. The military heroes who refused to sign the letter-- the 3 at the bottom of the list-- all sit in districts Trump won and all three are considered vulnerable to a flip next year. Chrissy Houlahan stands out as someone who probably should have announced she backed impeachment last month.Trump's 2016 vote / freshman's 2018 vote
• Gil Cisneros- 42.9% / 51.6%• Jason Crow- 41.3% / 54.1%• Chrissy Houlahan- 43.3% / 58.9%• Elaine Luria- 48.8% / 51.1%• Mike Sherrill- 48.8% / 56.8%• Elissa Slotkin- 50.6% / 50.6%• Abigail Spanberger- 50.5% / 50.4%• Jared Golden- 51.4% / 45.6%• Andy Kim- 51.4% / 50.0%• Max Rose- 53.6% / 53.0%
