Light News Dump

The House Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump’s "personal attorney" Rudy Giuliani for documents as part of its impeachment inquiry into the president. In a letter to Giuliani dated Monday (9/30), the heads of three House committees asked for information related to the president and his lawyer’s efforts to get Ukraine’s government to investigate the Biden family. They wrote that House Democrats’ probe "includes an investigation of credible allegations that [Giuliani] acted as an agent of the President in a scheme to advance his personal political interests by abusing the power of the Office of the President."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/us/politics/impeach-giuliani-subpoena.html
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/documents/20190930%20-%20Giuliani%20HPSCI%20Subpoena%20Letter.pdf

Attorney General William P. Barr has held private meetings overseas with foreign intelligence officials seeking their help in a Justice Department inquiry that President Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intelligence agencies’ examination of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter. Barr’s personal involvement is likely to stoke further criticism from Democrats pursuing impeachment that he is helping the Trump administration use executive branch powers to augment investigations aimed primarily at the president’s adversaries. But the high level Justice Department focus on intelligence operatives’ conduct will likely cheer Trump and other conservatives for whom “investigate the investigators” has become a rallying cry. The direct involvement of the nation’s top law enforcement official shows the priority Barr places on the investigation being conducted by John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, who has been assigned the sensitive task of reviewing U.S. intelligence work surrounding the 2016 election and its aftermath. The attorney general’s active role also underscores the degree to which a nearly three-year old election still consumes significant resources and attention inside the federal government. Current and former intelligence and law enforcement officials expressed frustration and alarm Monday that the head of the Justice Department was taking such a direct role in re-examining what they view as conspiracy theories and baseless allegations of misconduct. Barr has already made overtures to British intelligence officials, and last week the attorney general traveled to Italy, where he and Durham met senior Italian government officials and Barr asked the Italians to assist Durham, according to one person familiar with the matter. It was not Barr’s first trip to Italy to meet intelligence officials, the person said. The Trump administration has made similar requests of Australia, these people said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/attorney-general-barr-personally-asked-foreign-officials-to-aid-inquiry-into-cia-fbi-activities-in-2016/2019/09/30/d50cd5c4-e3a5-11e9-b403-f738899982d2_story.html

And on "Fox News Sunday" the same day, Pompeo said this: "I’ve watched the President engage with the Ukrainian leadership. I’ve listened to conversations."
https://twitter.com/feliciasonmez/status/1178782013404385281

The Inspector General had to debunk a conspiracy theory that began with The Federalist and made it's way to the president: Intelligence community watchdog debunks whistleblower conspiracy pushed by Trump and other Republicans
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/30/politics/icig-statement-whistleblower-complaint/index.html

If you don't know exactly what's in the Mueller Report, the next 6 months of news stories in US politics won't make sense. We adapted the whole report into a narrative audio documentary. You're going to like it:
https://shows.pippa.io/the-report/

If Pompeo was on the call, it's interesting that this is how he responded when Fox's John Roberts asked him about the contents of the call/whether there was a quid pro quo: "John, you’re asking me to provide a legal analysis on a hypothetical on a report I haven’t seen. Come on."
https://twitter.com/feliciasonmez/status/1178782910159212557

Pompeo was asked last week by ABC whether he knew about the conversation between Trump and Zelensky. He demurred, saying he just got the report. We now know he took part in the call itself.
https://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/1178781991187238912

"Current and former intelligence and law enforcement officials expressed frustration and alarm Monday that the head of the Justice Department was taking such a direct role in re-examining what they view as conspiracy theories and baseless allegations of misconduct."
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1178782826621210624

In a rare public act of discipline by the federal judiciary, US District Judge Carlos Murguia, who sits in Kansas, was publicly reprimanded for sexually harassing female employees — the judge admitted misconduct, though not fully right away
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6434763/9-30-19-Murguia-Decision.pdf

The most charitable reading of this is that the President is a fringe conspiracy theorist willing to put U.S. foreign policy second to his self-interest.

"We will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections" says the scumbag terrorists BEGGING for foreign interference in our elections.

Bernie supporter Vincent D'Onofrio leaves Twitter after extreme harassment by...Bernie supporters (40 tweet rant)
https://mobile.twitter.com/vincentdonofrio/status/1178732418280214530

There Have Been 800-Plus Political Cyberattacks in the Past Year Alone. 2020 is shaping up to look a lot like 2016 when it comes to election interference
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/cyberattack-election-meddling-democracy-2020-892623/

Pompeo Took Part in Trump’s Ukraine Call
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/gop-senators-seek-justice-department-details-on-biden-democrats

The President of the United States is not looking out for the 300+ Million Americans, he is looking out for himself and himself only.

Trump Pressed Australian Leader to Help Barr Investigate Mueller Inquiry’s Origins
http://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/us/politics/trump-australia-barr-mueller.html

Donald Trump's "Civil War" quote tweet is actually grounds for impeachment, says Harvard Law profressor
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-civil-war-tweet-grounds-impeachment-1462044?piano_t=1

Trump's own staff repeatedly warned him that his theory about Democrats and Ukraine had been debunked
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-staff-warned-ukraine-conspiracy-was-false-ignored-2019-9

Whistleblower's Lawyers Say Trump Has Endangered Their Client as President Publicly Threatens 'Big Consequences'; "Threats against a whistleblower are not only illegal, but also indicative of a cover-up."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/30/whistleblowers-lawyers-say-trump-has-endangered-their-client-president-publicly

Rep. Christopher Collins, a Republican from New York who was an early supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential run, is pleading guilty to insider trading. The congressman was charged last year with trading on non-public information about Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd., an Australian biotechnology company. He was arrested in August 2018 along with his son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron’s fiancee.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/gop-congressman-will-plead-guilty-in-insider-trading-case

U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry will not run for reelection, marking the sixth recent GOP retirement in Texas.
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/09/30/us-rep-mac-thornberry-will-not-run-reelection/

Giuliani Cannot Rely on Attorney-Client Privilege to Avoid Congressional Testimony
https://www.lawfareblog.com/giuliani-cannot-rely-attorney-client-privilege-avoid-congressional-testimony

China quietly doubles troop levels in Hong Kong, envoys say
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-army-hongkong/

The Need for Congressional Oversight Goes Far Beyond Impeachment: Congress needs the executive branch to comply with its requests, not only to monitor an unruly president, but for the more basic work of writing legislation
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/future-congressional-oversight-risk/598996/

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Calling for a civil war is the direct opposite of this oath.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will “return his mandate” to President Reuven Rivlin after being unable to form a government, according to a tweet by the Jerusalem Post’s chief political correspondent. Gil Hoffman said in a post that he’ll make the move “barring a change of heart” by Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party on letting Netanyahu start as prime minister and bring allies with him into the coalition. Opposition Benny Gantz now has the opportunity to also fail forming a new Israeli government.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-28/netanyahu-will-return-mandate-to-rivlin-jerusalem-post-says

The leaders of 23 corn grower organizations have sent a letter to Trump, arguing that his admin's biofuel waivers have reduced demand for their crops. "Frustration in the countryside is growing," the letter reads.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/29/politics/farmers-trump-ethanol/index.html

Whistleblower in Ukraine scandal under federal protection
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/463585-whistleblower-in-ukraine-scandal-under-federal-protection-report

Ukraine’s former top law enforcement official says he repeatedly rebuffed demands by President Trump’s personal lawyer to investigate Joe Biden and his son, insisting he had seen no evidence of wrongdoing that he could pursue. In an interview, Yuri Lutsenko said while he was Ukraine’s prosecutor general he told Rudolph W. Giuliani that he would be happy to cooperate if the FBI or other U.S. authorities began their own investigation of the former vice president and his son Hunter but insisted they had not broken any Ukrainian laws to his knowledge.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-09-29/former-ukraine-prosecutor-says-no-wrongdoing-biden

Trump-Putin phone calls in Democrats' sights
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-whistleblower-idUSKBN1WE0GN

Before the whistleblower filed a formal complaint with ICIG, he tried to do it through the CIA’s internal watchdog system. The WH found out and quashed it. So the whistleblower escalated. A revealing story of how fragile the whistblower system is:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/podcasts/the-daily/whistleblower-complaint-cia.html

Trump Calls for Treason Inquiry Into House Impeachment Leader Adam Schiff
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-30/trump-calls-for-treason-inquiry-into-house-impeachment-leader

Schiff says he plans to subpoena Giuliani for documents
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/463584-schiff-says-he-plans-to-subpoena-giuliani-for-documents

Millions of immigrant files physically stored in underground Missouri cave
https://www.axios.com/immigrant-files-missouri-cave-038095ef-df0c-44fb-8bfb-7a00db710a5d.html

Chaotic scenes overtook the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday, as protesters and police engaged in running street battles in a march billed as a rally against global totalitarianism. It also launched the 17th week of pro-democracy demonstrations aimed at China's tightening grip on the territory.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/29/765517895/hong-kong-protests-chaotic-scenes-unfold-in-streets-ahead-of-chinas-national-day


Thousands of ships fitted with 'cheat devices' to divert poisonous pollution into sea - Global shipping companies have spent millions rigging vessels with "cheat devices" that circumvent new environmental legislation by dumping pollution into the sea instead of the air, The Independent can reveal.
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/shipping-pollution-sea-open-loop-scrubber-carbon-dioxide-environment-a9123181.html

This thread was all posted at once. It was prewritten by Trump’s team. His team is calling for the House Intel Chairman to be put to death for treason. This is yet another abuse of power and attempted obstruction of justice and a direct threat against the life of a federal official.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1178442759499370496

Further, someone should ask Trump why, if he thinks Geoffrey Pyatt, the ambassador to Ukraine at the time, was doing something underhanded, he has Pyatt serving as his ambassador to Greece.
https://twitter.com/michelleinbklyn/status/1178377616350486528

Trump worked with 2 'off the books' lawyers to pressure Ukraine for damaging information about Joe Biden, in addition to Giuliani | Wallace reported that in addition to his known personal lawyer, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has publicly admitted to his involvement in the matter, Trump has been working with the controversial legal team and married couple Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, who run a firm in Washington, D.C., to communicate with Ukraine.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-lawyers-biden-digenova-toensing-ukraine-2019-9

The Military Is Promoting The General I Reported For Sexual Assault
https://www.newsweek.com/military-promoting-general-i-reported-sexual-assault-it-cant-stonewall-metoo-forever-1461658

DiCaprio Tells Haters to Stop Shaming Climate Activists Like Greta as They ‘Fight to Survive’
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/leonardo-dicaprio-global-citizen-festival-2019/

DiCaprio calls out Trump, world leaders on climate change: "Our future is being gambled away, and our leaders, those whom we entrust to protect us and set the example, are either failing to stop these dangerous trends or, in some cases, denying the very science of this climate catastrophe"
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/463598-leonardo-dicaprio-calls-out-trump-world-leaders-on-climate

Trump’s Dark ‘Civil War’ Threats Were Pushed Last Year by Russian Trolls Charged in Mueller Probe
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/09/trumps-dark-civil-war-threats-were-pushed-last-year-by-russian-trolls-charged-in-mueller-probe/

The big tell on the ridiculousness of the Biden part of this is that, as far as I can tell - and I’ve looked - not a *single* Republican criticized Biden or the Obama admin on its push to oust Shokin *at the time.* Total silence!
https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1178307025966682112

And of course they all knew about Hunter Biden’s business deal at the time too because that was reported by Jim Risen in The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/corruption-ukraine-joe-biden-son-hunter-biden-ties.amp.html … The people who went nuts over Benghazi saw nothing to object to in Joe Biden’s unobjectionable anti-corruption drive
https://twitter.com/RobertMackey/status/1178802550788653056

Officials in Montana are warning residents for a second time this year about surveys sent by the Republican National Committee that mimic the look of federal census forms with the goal of soliciting money for President Trump’s reelection campaign. The mailers are labeled “2019 congressional District Census” and inform recipients that they’ve been “selected to represent voters” in Bozeman, Mont. The accompanying literature makes repeated requests for donations, urging recipients to send at least $15 to “help pay for the costs of processing [the] Census Document” should they be unable to afford an amount in the requested range of $25 to $1,000.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/30/rnc-solicited-money-trumps-reelection-with-forms-that-look-lot-like-official-census/

Jessye Norman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessye_Norman
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/obituaries/jessye-norman-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Wilbur Ross used a private email account to conduct government business.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/dont-sleep-on-wilbur-ross/2019/09/27/e9928b46-dd93-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html

They are retroactively changing non-classified information to classified information so they claim she was using a personal email for classified information. It wasn't classified when it was sent.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/29/politics/hillary-clinton-emails-state-department-reclassified/index.html

These Sheriffs Release Sick Inmates to Avoid Paying Their Hospital Bills. Inmates suffering heart attacks, on the verge of diabetic comas and brutalized in jail beatings have been released so sheriffs wouldn’t have to pay for their medical care. Some were rearrested once they had recovered.
https://www.propublica.org/article/these-sheriffs-release-sick-inmates-to-avoid-paying-their-hospital-bills