Manafort to testify for Intelligence Committee, but....

[Jimmy Higgins]

In signs of things going to complete shit, things look to be going even further into more complete shit. Or maybe shit concentrate.

Earlier this week, we saw Rep. Nunes pull off mix of Watergate Obstruction and Monty Python. "Well, I guess it all depends on one's definitions of spying, wink wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean?"

And now Paul Manafort, Advertiser of the Fascist Stars has been noted as going to testify for the Intelligence Committee. Alright, we are getting to the... oh shit... what was that?

The committee is also delaying its March 28 hearing, a decision infuriating Democrats on the committee.
"Chairman just cancelled open Intelligence Committee hearing with (former Director of National Intelligence James) Clapper, (former CIA Director John) Brennan and (former deputy Attorney General Sally) Yates in attempt to choke off public info," Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee tweeted moment before going to speak to the press Friday morning.

What?!

Oh, it gets better.

Nunes said House investigators are still negotiating when Manafort will testify and whether he will testify in an open hearing or in a closed briefing.

Open or closed?! He is a private citizen, should have no access to sensitive US Government information, so what basis would there be to have it be private?

That was a rhetorical question.

Jebus fucking Christ! We have lost, haven't we?

 

[Elixir]

In signs of things going to complete shit, things look to be going even further into more complete shit. Or maybe shit concentrate.

Earlier this week, we saw Rep. Nunes pull off mix of Watergate Obstruction and Monty Python. "Well, I guess it all depends on one's definitions of spying, wink wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean?"

And now Paul Manafort, Advertiser of the Fascist Stars has been noted as going to testify for the Intelligence Committee. Alright, we are getting to the... oh shit... what was that?

What?!

Oh, it gets better.

Nunes said House investigators are still negotiating when Manafort will testify and whether he will testify in an open hearing or in a closed briefing.

Open or closed?! He is a private citizen, should have no access to sensitive US Government information, so what basis would there be to have it be private?

That was a rhetorical question.

Jebus fucking Christ! We have lost, haven't we?

This stinks to high heaven. Again I ask - who needs fire when there is so much smoke?

 

[beero1000]

Full CYA mode. I mean, Nunes was part of the Trump transition team and he's in charge of the investigation. WTF?

 

[ideologyhunter]

Yes, we all need WTF jerseys, but WTF is wrong with Democrats? Can you begin to imagine the full court press of right wing outrage (their favorite mode, and they're good at it) if all these things were coming out of a Democrat government? There would be a clusterfuck of Hannitys, Cheneys, Gingriches, Limbaughs, Coulters, Becks... fill in the blanks with a thousand more idiots, telling us how the administration was rotten from the top down. Cheato's campaign manager had a contract with the Ruskies, he has the House intelligence chair helping him prepare for his next round of lyin', not to mention that his veep used private email and was actually hacked into, his FBI director neglected to tell us in October that his campaign was under investigation, he himself has libeled his predecessor...and my sense of fairness dictates that, if we can speculate on the 'murder' of Vince Foster and the horrors of Whitewater, then, how many clap treatments did Trump need after getting golden showers from those Russian hoes? If outrage and lunk-headed propaganda can win elections, we better learn how to do it. The GOP is absolutely shameless, and they won't be damaged or dislodged by polite tactics. Did I mention that they have stolen the next SCOTUS seat?

 

[fromderinside]

That's the beauty of democrats they don't need shills, they have the free press on their side. It's all about being legitimate. Wunnerful, wunnerful, wunnerful.

 

[ElectEngr]

Wunnerful, wunnerful, wunnerful.

Ah, Stan Freberg...

Later,
ElectEngr

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Yes, we all need WTF jerseys, but WTF is wrong with Democrats? Can you begin to imagine the full court press of right wing outrage (their favorite mode, and they're good at it) if all these things were coming out of a Democrat government? There would be a clusterfuck of Hannitys, Cheneys, Gingriches, Limbaughs, Coulters, Becks... fill in the blanks with a thousand more idiots, telling us how the administration was rotten from the top down. Cheato's campaign manager had a contract with the Ruskies, he has the House intelligence chair helping him prepare for his next round of lyin', not to mention that his veep used private email and was actually hacked into, his FBI director neglected to tell us in October that his campaign was under investigation, he himself has libeled his predecessor...and my sense of fairness dictates that, if we can speculate on the 'murder' of Vince Foster and the horrors of Whitewater, then, how many clap treatments did Trump need after getting golden showers from those Russian hoes? If outrage and lunk-headed propaganda can win elections, we better learn how to do it. The GOP is absolutely shameless, and they won't be damaged or dislodged by polite tactics. Did I mention that they have stolen the next SCOTUS seat?

Well, a fairly standard tactic is that when your opponent is shooting himself in the face, you stand back and let him do it. The Democrats don't need to do that and they also don't have the same kind of multi-billion dollar industry based on being a partisan echo chamber set up which the Republicans do. On the one hand, it would be nice if they did because the effectiveness of it is unquestionable, but on the other hand, the existence of it is based on the premise that your supporters are a bunch of idiots and it would make things worse if we associated ourselves with these tactics.

I think that the Dems are better off just standing back and being calmly reasonable whenever anybody bothers to talk to them and let Drumpf and his gaggle of circus clowns set themselves on fire.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

When is Nunes going to testify?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Meanwhile in 'We aren't obstructing justice' Land...

Correspondences between Yates' counsel David O'Neil, the committee's chairman and ranking member, and the Justice Department obtained by NBC News and first published by the Washington Post show Yates requesting permission from the administration to speak at a hearing on Russian interference.

In a March 23 letter to Acting Assistant Attorney General Samuel Ramer, O'Neil wrote that Yates would not discuss classified information but that the guidance they received went further and was "overbroad, incorrect, and inconsistent with the department's historical approach to the congressional testimony of current and former officials."

Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools responded that because Yates was seeking to testify on conversations she had with the White House Office of Counsel, the material would be covered by executive privilege and referred her to the White House.

He added she "need not obtain separate consent" from the Justice Department.
In a letter to White House counsel Donald McGahn on March 24, O'Neil said any guidance barring Yates from discussing conversations about an unnamed senior White House official would be "untenable" and that the relevant topics had already been discussed publicly by top officials.

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