News Dump | This is an historic day. By tonight we will be living under the leadership of an impeached President.

Democrats in Trump country put principle ahead of politics | In impeachment vote, moderate Democrats are almost unanimously coming down on the side of upholding the Constitution
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2019/12/18/opinion/democrats-trump-country-put-principle-ahead-politics/

In the first lawsuit of its kind, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Dell, and Tesla are being sued on behalf of 14 Congolese families whose children were killed or permanently injured while illegally mining cobalt for electronics made by these companies
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bvg8n8/first-lawsuit-of-its-kind-accuses-big-tech-of-profiting-from-child-labor-in-cobalt-mines

One of New Zealand's wealthiest businessmen, Sir Ron Brierley, arrested at Sydney airport & charged with possession of child pornography
https://7news.com.au/politics/law-and-order/sir-ron-brierley-arrested-at-sydney-airport-charged-with-possession-of-child-pornography-c-611431

A shitstain New York state judge illegally dismissed the indictment against Paul Manafort brought by Manhattan DA’s office. The judge illegally dismissed the indictment on non-applicable double jeopardy grounds. The hearing was 90 seconds long and the judge didn’t explain decision. It will be appealed ASAP.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/18/judge-dismisses-new-york-state-criminal-charges-against-paul-manafort.html

Governor Cuomo Signs Legislation Closing New York's Double Jeopardy Loophole, Authorizing the State to Prosecute Individuals Pardoned By a President
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-signs-legislation-closing-new-yorks-double-jeopardy-loophole-authorizing-state

Now, she says — wait for it — “You don’t have to take it, but it’s available to you if you want it. The choice is yours.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/18/did-medicare-for-all-lose-already/

DHS Was Finally Getting Serious About Cybersecurity. Then Came Trump.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2019/12/18/america-cybersecurity-homeland-security-trump-nielsen-070149

Stephen King Vows Effort to Defeat Maine Democratic Congressman If He Doesn't Vote for Both Trump Articles of Impeachment
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/18/stephen-king-vows-effort-defeat-maine-democratic-congressman-if-he-doesnt-vote-both?cd-origin=rss

A Lou Dobbs Guest Compared Trump's Very Normal Letter to the Gettysburg Address. It's times like these that you remember these people don't actually give a shit about anything. It's a political movement based on low-quality trolling.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a30269770/trump-letter-gettysburg-address-lou-dobbs-fox-business/

Obama Says Women are 'Indisputably Better' Leaders Than Men — and Old Men Should Get Out of the Way: "I'm absolutely confident," he said, "that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything"
https://people.com/politics/barack-obama-says-women-better-leaders-than-men/

A top Pentagon intelligence official will soon leave the building, the fourth key defense official to announce their resignation within a week. Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Kari Bingen will leave in January. Her departure was first reported by Politico. | Her announced departure follows three others within seven days: the Dec. 12 notification that top Asia policy official Randall Schriver would leave after two years on the job; the Dec. 13 announcement that top official in charge of personnel and readiness Jimmy Stewart had resigned after a little over a year on the job; and on Tuesday Defense News reported that Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency leader Steven Walker will leave in January for a private sector job.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/475114-fourth-pentagon-official-announces-resignation-within-week

Three years into Trump's presidency, DOD is bleeding senior policymakers faster than it can replace them--an exodus that many blame on a toxic work environment created by John Rood, the department's top policy official. My latest
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/18/pentagon-policy-chief-john-rood-under-fire-senior-officials-leave/

Portland leaders failed to fully deliver on promises they made to voters as they implemented arts, cannabis, affordable housing, and street repair programs funded by voter-approved taxes and bond measures, according to a city auditor’s report released early Tuesday. | City leaders, for example, promised to use cannabis tax revenues to pay for drug and alcohol education and treatment, public safety, and to support for neighborhood small businesses. In reality, nearly 80% of the tax revenue was spent on public safety in each of the first two years, the audit found. None of the funds went to drug and alcohol treatment during one year.
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2019/12/audit-portland-city-council-fell-short-on-promises-to-voters-on-recent-tax-bond-measures.html
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/auditservices/article/749724

Trump critics launch super PAC to help reelect Congressman Justin Amash
https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2019/12/trump-critics-launch-super-pac-to-help-reelect-congressman-justin-amash.html

This is happening now. @realDonaldTrump’s campaign staged a protest at my office. They even bussed in protestors and organizers. I refuse to be intimidated, I will do what is right. Please contribute to help me fight back:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/1219social?refcode=20191218_1

Germany Is Hiring 600 Police and Intelligence Agents to Hunt Down Neo-Nazis
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/g5xpdj/germany-is-hiring-600-police-and-intelligence-agents-to-hunt-down-neo-nazis

Australia registers hottest day in recorded history. Outback towns become some of warmest places on Earth as report details season of unprecedented fire risk. | 'An Unthinkable and Unlivable Reality': Australia Sees Hottest Day on Record as National Average Temperature Hits 105.6°F | "We are in a climate emergency," said meteorologist Eric Holthaus.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australia-hottest-day-record-bushfire-climate-change-spring-bom-a9251101.html
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/18/unthinkable-and-unlivable-reality-australia-sees-hottest-day-record-national-average

Earth's Magnetic North Pole Keeps Moving Towards Siberia at a Mysteriously Fast Pace
https://www.sciencealert.com/earth-s-magnetic-north-pole-is-drifting-towards-siberia-at-a-mysteriously-rapid-pace

EU ministers opt to continue overfishing, despite 2020 deadline
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/18/eu-ministers-opt-to-continue-overfishing-despite-2020-deadline?

Jailed Uighur activist's daughter receives EU top rights prize. Ilham Tohti is serving a life sentence after Beijing accused him of trying to promote separatism. Thousands of Uighur Muslims are thought to be in concentration camps in China's Xinjiang province.
https://www.dw.com/en/jailed-uighur-activists-daughter-receives-eu-top-rights-prize/a-51719948

UN peacekeepers 'fathered hundreds of children in Haiti mission', report says
https://news.sky.com/story/un-peacekeepers-fathered-hundreds-of-children-in-haiti-mission-report-says-11889570

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Greek Royal Tombs Dating Back 3,500 Years
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/17/789142592/archaeologists-discover-ancient-greek-royal-tombs-dating-back-3-500-years

This is a troubling and incredible piece of investigative journalism by @lawfareblog about a massive media operation with ties to Russia that is building a huge distribution network on Youtube and facebook:
https://twitter.com/ianbassin/status/1207381720493776897

The Biggest Social Media Operation You’ve Never Heard Of Is Run Out of Cyprus by Russians | What the heck is TheSoul Publishing? I’m still honestly not sure. Here’s what I do know: Measured in terms of views and subscribers, it had the third-largest reach of any group of entertainment channels on YouTube in November—outranked only by Disney and WarnerMedia. It is run by Russian nationals and based in and managed from Cyprus, with U.S. operations housed in a shared work space in New York. It funds itself with ad revenues from YouTube and Google worth tens of millions of dollars. And in 2018, it purchased a small suite of Facebook advertisements targeting U.S. citizens on political issues—and it made those purchases in rubles. | TheSoul is a web publishing company that distributes its content across a range of YouTube channels. The more popular channels—like 5-Minute Crafts, Bright Side, 5-Minute Crafts Kids, 5-Minute Crafts Girly, 7-Second Riddles and 5-Minute Magic—post multiple times a day and, according to publicly available information found on YouTube, have uploaded more than 1,000 videos each since their creation. The company’s website boasts 140 YouTube channels and 70 Facebook pages. I have been able to identify 35 YouTube channels and 25 Facebook pages that identify connections with TheSoul Publishing. Asked about the discrepancy, a representative of the company confirms that these are all of the English-language sites but says the company also runs channels in several other languages, including Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Korean and Japanese. The oldest of the YouTube channels I have seen was created in 2016; the oldest Facebook page dates from 2015. TheSoul’s numbers are undeniably impressive. Its largest channels have millions of subscribers and billions of views, according to information publicly available on the YouTube channels themselves. As of Dec. 16, 2019, 5-Minute Crafts had more than 62.8 million subscribers, and a total of 16,648,886,677 views; Bright Side had more than 32.3 million subscribers and 6,286,157,368 views. According to Tubular Labs, a company that provides insights into metrics for each brand creator, in November 2019, TheSoul Publishing had the third most views of any media and entertainment creator on YouTube and Facebook, behind only the Walt Disney Company and WarnerMedia. In October, it was fourth. And in November, 5-Minute Crafts was the second most viewed of any media and entertainment channel. This is all especially impressive because I have been unable to identify any YouTube channels associated with TheSoul Publishing that were created before 2016. According to the information found on its various YouTube channels, 5-Minute Crafts began Nov. 15, 2016, while Bright Side began March 15, 2017. The majority of TheSoul Publishing’s channels were created in 2018 and 2019, according to an examination of 35 of its sites. TheSoul isn’t only on YouTube. It has also built an enormous Facebook presence—which is impressive given that the pages I have examined were all developed after 2015 and thus have had only a few years to attract an audience. For example, Bright Side, whose Facebook presence claims to have begun in June 2004—Facebook’s transparency measures put the start date on July 2, 2015—has more than 44 million followers. By contrast, the New York Times’s Facebook page has a comparatively paltry 16 million followers. Lawfare’s meager Facebook page has just over 24,000 followers. | If you’ve never heard of TheSoul, you’re not alone. The company has built its online empire in relative obscurity. Public coverage of the company in English has been sporadic. In September 2019, Time magazine raved over the company’s traffic and described the “bizarre” content posted by 5-Minute Crafts. Vox likewise posted an article in November 2018 characterizing the channel’s content as “cringey” and “peculiar.” Forbes has noted the lightning-fast rise of TheSoul Publishing and its remarkable traffic, contrasting the apparently anodyne videos with dire-sounding concerns over Russian election interference: “So just what are those Trump loving, Hillary hating Russians promoting ad nauseam on Facebook to fool Americans into voting the way Vladimir Putin wants?” the Forbes article asks, before showing a lengthy video compilation of TheSoul’s crafting suggestions. TheSoul Publishing grew out of a company called AdMe, the company confirms, which began in 2004 in Kazan, Russia. AdMe was focused on digital advertising and content distribution. In 2016, its founders moved operations to Cyprus. In the summer of 2018, TheSoul opened a U.S.-based entity and a U.K. entity, which is currently managed from Cyprus. Earlier this year, the company incorporated another U.K. entity, the company confirms. The Cyprus headquarters owns and manages all of TheSoul Publishing’s operations worldwide, the company says, and any legal entity that has been set up elsewhere is simply created to support the overall business. | Data acquired using Facebook’s transparency measures identifies none of the account administrators for these pages as based in the United States. Instead, by and large, across all pages, most administrators are listed as residing in Cyprus or Russia, with some located in a smattering of other countries—including former Soviet bloc countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Romania and Ukraine, as well as incongruous locales such as El Salvador.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/biggest-social-media-operation-youve-never-heard-run-out-cyprus-russians

Tulsi Gabbard, who has been skeptical of impeachment, did not show up for the first four votes today - and her office hasn’t told @byrdinator if she will show up for vote on the articles
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1207384260673454082

Beto O'Rourke's 2020 focus: flipping the Texas House
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/12/17/beto-orourkes-2020-focus-flipping-texas-house/

Agency says it will review Trump Jr.’s sheep hunt in Mongolia
https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/agency-says-it-will-review-trump-jr-s-sheep-hunt-in-mongolia

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy restores voting rights for 80,000 on probation or parole | The state will now create a "clean slate" expungement for residents who have not committed an offense in 10 years and who have not been convicted of the "most serious" crimes. The bill also requires that low-level marijuana convictions be sealed at the disposition of the case, so those convictions cannot be used in the future.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jersey-gov-phil-murphy-restores-voting-rights-80000/story?id=67806071

A federal appeals court ruled that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate provision was unconstitutional but punted on deciding whether the rest of the landmark health-care law should be tossed out.
https://khn.org/morning-breakout/aca-individual-mandate-ruled-unconstitutional-but-appeals-court-does-not-invalidate-health-law/
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/475186-appeals-court-strikes-obamacare-mandate-sends-case-back-to-lower-court
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/18/court-finds-obamacare-mandate-unconstitutional-sends-case-back-to-lower-court-087389

California will appeal ruling directly to the Supreme Court, per AG spokeswoman, regarding appeals court saying Obamacare individual mandate is unconstitutional

The Oxford Gazette started in 1665 by order of King Charles II. That year, he lived in Oxford to avoid the plague in London. This issue reported 281 deaths that week; the final death toll was 100,000. In 1666, the king returned to London & the paper became The London Gazette.
https://twitter.com/Newseum/status/1207426823086333953

The USDA listed Wakanda, the home of Marvel's Black Panther, as a free trade partner in a tariff tracker on its website. They took it off after we asked why it was listed. Still waiting for an answer from USDA.
https://twitter.com/PhilMcCausland/status/1207386657550479361

The Defense Department’s senior adviser for international cooperation earlier this week left the Pentagon, marking the fifth top official in seven days to leave or announce their departure. Amb. Tina Kaidanow, a long-time State Department official who began working in her Pentagon role in September 2018, resigned on Dec. 16, the Pentagon confirmed. Defense News first reported her departure.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/475205-fifth-pentagon-official-announces-resignation-in-seven-days

__________________________

Impeachment debate.....

This is necessary. You can't set a precedent where the president can interfere in an upcoming election without consequences. I thank the House for doing their job here and this is what we wanted when we voted in 2018.

Kind of conspicuous that the Rs are complaining about access to committee materials but not a word about the unprecedented blanket denial of relevant documents by the WH.

In the coverage of impeachment, I worry punditry is outpacing reporting. And I worry some in the political establishment and the press underestimate the seriousness with which many American voters are approaching this presidency.
https://twitter.com/DanRather/status/1207155004454273025

It's remarkable how no moderate Republicans are even tempted to vote for Trump's impeachment. Even members who are often conflicted about hard-right Republican legislation, or those who are retiring and have nothing to lose by doing the right thing, appear to have no qualms voting against this.

2016 - Trump wins
2018 - Dems win back the House
You're seeing the ultimate consequences of both today. Elections matter.

The Minority called Jonathan Turley, Gordon Sondland, Volker, Morrison, etc. They called Volker and Morrison but when their testimony supported the whistleblower, the Republicans denied they called them as witnesses

C-Span caller: Let me quote the Bible then proceed to forget the verse halfway through.

"This isn't about siding with your team. I didn't swear an oath to defend a political party. I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America." - Jim McGovern

So, we're half an hour in, and the Republicans' tactics so far involve:
- motioning to adjourn
- filing the first of what I'm sure will be many fake resolutions

Barbara Lee was the only vote against the use of force authorization in Afghanistan, stating then she feared it would result in an endless war. She was also one of the few to vote against the Iraq war. She's right, a lot.

For the rest of my life, I will never forgive the Republican party for what they are doing now. They are not using facts. They are using talking points hand fed to them for Hannity, Limbaugh, and "journalists" from ClownHall, Breitbart, Daily Wire. It's almost like they are living in a different reality, and world. Obama was 100% right in his interview with Letterman on the Netflix special.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/28/politics/barack-obama-media-climate/index.html

The House committees gave Trump/ The White House all the time and opportunities to come clean, clear the smoke, come testify. But Trump refused, and told everyone to not cooperate.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/473443-white-house-tells-democrats-it-wont-cooperate-in-impeachment-hearings

CNN needs to stop with this "Its a sad day for this nation" no its amazing we are going to see someone who spent over 70 years of his life never having any consequences for his actions be held to account and it will be a glorious sight to see his reaction. Much like a child who has been told no for the first time in its life, he will throw a tantrum and he will make it ever more clear why he is not fit for office, damaging the GOP ever more as they will have to justify all that much more why they are saving him. I do not want Trump to accept the fact that he is impeached, I want him to claim either that it did not happen or that it is illegitimate or anything that can stir up his base because that is what will hurt the GOP the most and push away those who are not his direct extreme base.

It's not too early for Christmas carols is it?

🎶Donald got run over by impeachment... tweeting from the White House Christmas Eve...you might think there's no such thing as justice... but as for U S House Reps, we believe

He'd been watchin' too much Fox news...and we begged him not to tweet...but he forgot his medication, and stumbled out the White House to the street 🎵

Notice how Republicans cry over Donald Trump not getting his 'due process' in this endeavour, but don't have a tear to shed Trump's attempts to deprive Joe Biden and his son of the same. To clarify, these are the basic due process rights I'm referring to:

- An unbiased tribunal aka House/Senate hearings, official request for DoJ and State Department to investigate (as opposed to a tribunal of Trump and Giuliani)
- Notice of the proposed action and the grounds asserted for it (versus hidden efforts to compel Ukraine with no justification)
- Opportunity to present reasons why the proposed action should not be taken (no opportunity for Biden and Biden to do the same)
- The right to present evidence, including the right to call witnesses (in the Ukraine, there have been instances of a defendant’s counsel being forcibly removed from the courtroom, documents seized and attorney-client privilege shredded)
- The right to know opposing evidence (he hidden investigations would avoid the Bidens gaining this information before it was dumped on the media)
- The right to cross-examine adverse witnesses (see above, and that is if this reached a trial at all)
- A decision based exclusively on the evidence presented (a decision based exclusively on its benefit to Trump)
- Opportunity to be represented by counsel (see above)
- Requirement that the committees/doj/state department/et prepares a record of the evidence presented (see above)
- Requirement that the committees/doj/state department/et prepares written findings of fact and reasons for its decision (do you expect that from Trump?)

For the Republican complaints, they fail to realize the hypocrisy. What Trump tried to do to Biden was criminal.

We know the "investigations" were code for an announcement of an investigation to trigger a blitz of negative free negative PR sinking Biden's campaign.

The extremely junior congressperson Elissa Slotkim just schooled the Republican House Leader and national disgrace Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy rambled and lied for 10 minutes trying to dodge the simple question: did Trump do anything wrong? It was a humiliating sycophantic mess. Then it was bookended by Slotkin answering every question candidly, truthfully, and precisely. The Democrats' least experienced member is making the Republicans' most senior Rep look like a corrupt and dishonest clown.

There's two main reasons why the Republicans are pulling these bullshit motions:
- They want this to be a miserable experience for viewers. They know they are selling out their country today and the last thing they want is an audience.
- They want to bully out any dissenting Republicans. If anyone votes against the party on these early votes then they have time to threaten them before the actual impeachment vote. Also, psychologically, it encourages members to continually swear their allegiance to the R party which is a way of keeping them in line.

Clinton and Nixon both offered public apologies to the nation before impeachment vote. Trump? Another day of rage, maybe even break his 123 twitter record today.

The minority witness rule explained, and why it might be irrelevant for impeachment:   But how the Republicans have portrayed House Rule XI, clause 2(j)(1) isn’t exactly correct. Most importantly, the rule doesn’t grant the minority their own day for minority-called witnesses to testify.  In fact, this accommodation process has already occurred during the first House Judiciary impeachment hearing when the Republican request for Professor Jonathan Turley to testify was granted without formally invoking the minority witness rule.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2019/12/12/the-minority-witness-rule-explained-and-why-it-might-be-irrelevant-for-impeachment/

- During one of the House Committee hearings, the Democratic majority and Republic minority were able to call esteemed Constitutional Scholars
- Democrats got 3, Republicans got 1
- All four could arguably be considered "liberal" scholars, including, as Republican's have personally stated, their "liberal" scholar Johnathan Turley
- During and throughout the hearing, three of the constitutional scholars agreed that the President committed impeachable defenses
- Turley, being the outlier, disagreed and said that he believes the process has been going too quickly and thinks the President should not impeached
Strictly, from an empirical standpoint, these are four greatly esteemed scholars, where 3/4 believe the President can and should be impeached, where as the 1/4 believe he shouldn't. This is objectively indisputable. Republicans are gaslighting and grandstanding throughout this entire process, and they need to be called out on it. Really, any elected representative that gaslights, tells a lie and is clearly grandstanding should be called out and reprimanded.

Mick Mulvaney flat out admitted on live TV that there was a quid pro quo... if the Republicans had a spine they would be demanding he testify.

"Whereas Adam Schiff stole the ranking members stapler. It was a nice stapler. It was a red matte finish Swingline. It had Jordan written on some masking tape on the top. Whereas he laughed when we asked about the stapler."

The whole "They wanted to impeach him since day one" argument is inane because HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IMPEACHED FROM DAY 1. Most people knew he was a fucking game show con man before he ever entered the race. Such a person should have never been considered for the office, and the Republicans failed America the second they lined up behind him.

“They wanted to impeach him before he even took office” I love how the GOP act like they didn’t already have a plan to impeach Hillary when they thought she was going to win.

1776-1974 One impeachment.
1974-2019 Three impeachments.

Democrats investigate Trump using Republicans own House rules...Republicans cry about due process
Trump provides zero due process to the Bidens or DNC etc, breaks the law extorting a sham investigation from the Ukraine...Republicans totally silent

I wish one of the Democrats in the House would tackle this claim from the Republicans that the President was treated unfairly and not given due process during this investigation of the facts, by asking if these same Republicans also believe that the Biden family was afforded fair and due process when the President requested that a foreign country investigate them alongside his personal attorney and the Attorney General, aka his other personal attorney (who ultimately denied knowing anything about it). At what point during this sham investigation of "Burisma" would the Biden's have any opportunity to present their defense, and why was it at all necessary as a condition for the Ukrainian President to publicly announce this investigation if the President cared only about the truth and not harming Biden's reputation with the American people? I know it's a futile effort when the Republicans have mastered the art of spoken Cirque de Soleil, but it should still be said on the record for the viewers at home to think about.

A point about C-SPAN callers. These people may be absolutely insane, but they vote. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. They mistakenly believe they understand the world and they vote accordingly. They have the motivation, the time, and the misguided anger to get them to the polls. There needs to be 2-3 of us for every one of them at the polls. Are you in a safe blue state? VOTE. In an impossible-to-change red state? VOTE. Are you alive? VOTE. Are you out of state/country? MAIL-IN VOTE. Bring your friends. Bring your relatives. Bring strangers. This is the only way we convince the world we aren't a nation of C-SPAN callers. Do your duty.

Republicans: "This isn't fair because we didn't impeach Obama when we dreamed that he committed a crime." That sounds like a YOU problem.

Very believable, in fact. You violated your oath of office. You have invited foreign interference in our election (again) and have allowed Russian money to influence our policies, as long as it benefits YOU.
https://twitter.com/thehowie/status/1207278296687370240

Impeachment is a horrible and solemn outcome. We should never have to impeach a POTUS. But there really is no choice, when that POTUS does not even have the insight to know what he has done wrong. You can not enrich yourself at the public's expense.
https://twitter.com/thehowie/status/1207278679782547457

And here's Lindsey Graham, who would become one of the House impeachment managers in the Senate trial: "Let it be said that any president who cheats our institutions shall be impeached."
https://twitter.com/SteveKornacki/status/1207364070804017152

Abuse of power is indeed an impeachable offense. From the HJC evidentiary report, which the Republicans have chosen to completely ignore today, for whatever reason:    To the founding generation, abuse of power was a specific, well-defined offense. It occurs when a President exercises the powers of his office to obtain an improper personal benefit while injuring and ignoring the national interest.    The evidence shows that President Trump leveraged his office to solicit and pressure Ukraine for a personal favor.    This unquestionably constitutes an impeachable offense, but the first article of impeachment also identifies two aggravating factors. When President Trump asked President Zelensky for a favor, he did so at the expense of both our national security and the integrity of our elections.
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20191216/CRPT-116hrpt346.pdf

Johnson: Trump doesn't think he can win an election fair and square, so he's trying to cheat

Clay Higgins scares me is the kind of guy to "jokingly" suggest that people with guns "resist" the Democrats if Trump is impeached and/or removed and/or loses re-election. He is a diehard MAGA zombie that threatens our very democracy and free society.

Jerry Nadler reminds "Democrats want to undo the elections!" Republicans that if Trump is impeached and removed, Mike Pence would be President, not Hillary Clinton. To which a cluster of Republicans on the floor started cheering.

Hours of floor speeches are an inspiring reminder that in America, truly anyone can grow up to become a member of Congress

Republican Rep. Steve King argued that Biden was not actually Trump's opponent, since he is in a giant primary against other Democrats and is "running third in that race." Biden has led in national polls since he entered the race.

King also misstated the timeline of Biden's pressure on Ukraine to fire the prosecutor, suggesting Biden went to Ukraine at some point in mid- or late 2016. The relevant visit was in December 2015. And King wrongly suggested Obama authorized only "blankets and MREs" for Ukraine.

Classic @RepJerryNadler: Hearing a lot from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, except for a defense. Because his [Trump’s] conduct is indefensible.
https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1207359373120622592

Doug Collins (R) Georgia introducing the GOP like it's a game show...

Moreover, with respect to election interference, the President’s entire intelligence community had already concluded that Russia was responsible for interfering in the 2016 election and, as President Trump’s former Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert made clear, the idea of Ukraine hacking the DNC server was “not only a conspiracy theory, it is completely debunked.”
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20191216/CRPT-116hrpt346.pdf

Republicans: This process is too fast!
Also republicans: This process has been going on for years!

"Politicians worry about the next election. Statesmen worry about the next generation."

Just a reminder for you in Iowa-4: J.D. Scholten is running against Steve King
https://ballotpedia.org/J.D._Scholten

"When he separated babies on the border I didn't move to impeach" - Her point is countering the Republican narrative that Democrats have been trying to do this all along.

Obama Obama Obama Obama
Hillary Hillary Hillary Hillary
Biden Biden Biden Biden

Not one single defense of Trump's actions. But Trump is Jesus and the impeachment is as big as the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Ah yea, thousands of Americans dying in an unprovoked attack by a foreign nation is exactly the same as a lawfully elected House of Representatives merely impeaching a criminal responsible for attacking the entire planet. Impeachment is just like surprise attacking a naval base early on a Sunday. Got it.

The projection is so painful to listen to. You'd swear the Republicans were talking about the Republicans.

All Democratic candidates should say they're now accepting assistance from all foreign administrations. Just want to see how the Republicans handle that one.

While Democrats are impeaching, Republicans are seating pure evil ABA UNQUALIFIED conservative Judges to lifetime appointments.
https://twitter.com/SenateCloakroom/status/1207385613487529984

Republican Rep. Barry Loundermilk claims "Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than the Democrats have afforded this president."
Chairman Nadler: "The president was given the opportunity to come and testify...he declined to do so."

The White House said Trump 'will be working all day.' Instead he's been angrily rage tweeting about impeachment. See his twitter.

Reminder:
Republicans were talking about impeaching HRC before the 2016 election.
They also planned on impeaching Bill Clinton from the day he won the election.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/republicans-are-already-talking-about-impeaching-clinton/amp
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/barr021098.htm

That asshole just equated the Pearl Harbor attack that killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178 others to the impeachment of Trump. Absolutely disgusting.

Impeachment has thus far been compared to:
-Salem witch trials
-Jesus's crucifixion
-Pearl Harbor
-The trial of Socrates
-A lynching and more

"The Democrats TOOK the majority!"
No, the Democrats were elected. And they didn't have to cheat.

Nadler clapbacks are the best part of this hearing today so far.

The Republicans are right about one thing. This IS divisive. I don't think I could ever trust a single Republican or Trump supporter so long as I live. It is truly sad to see so many Americans drinking this dangerous cultish kool aid. There is no doubt in my mind that all Republicans and all people who support them and all people who refuse to vote Democrats are pure evil terrorists.

Demographics for the House
https://pressgallery.house.gov/member-data/demographics
Republicans:
1 African American
1 Asian American
7 Hispanic Americans
2 American Indians
15 women

Democrats:
52 African Americans
13 Asian Americans
35 Hispanic Americans
2 American Indians
89 women

Dear Chabot,
Congress has the sole power of impeachment.
Not the courts.
Sincerely, The Constitution

Do Republicans have a single rep that's not a "good ol' boy"?

Halfway there: Nadler hands over the remaining three hours of floor debate to Rep Adam Schiff and the House Intelligence Committee.

If you don't like a person, and you say you'd like them [impeached] then it is literally impossible for that person to do anything to actually cause [impeachment]. No action said person commits can ever rise to [impeachment] because people don't like that person.

The Republican really called Zelensky a pathological liar (while in the same breath saying Zelensky said Trump never pressured him therefore Trump did nothing wrong, even though Zelensky is a pathological liar and should not be believed LOL) because Zelensky strategically said something that might not be true because it was the best stance for his country at the time.

All together now, everyone:

🎶 There's just one thing that you have to know 🎶 🎶 Trump said "do us a favor, though" 🎶

"Hold him accountable for the first time in his privileged life" says the man with a bicycle pin. I love it. Trump and republicans, you've pissed off quiet normal people. See you at the ballot box. He’s from Portland and a leader of the Bike Caucus https://blumenauer.house.gov/congressional-bike-caucus

"I stand with Trump". Not the truth not justice, and not with the Constitution. They are saying it all in plain view.

Donald Trump cheated on his wife Melania while she was pregnant with [name redacted] and the Republicans support him.

Donald Trump and his children had their charity shut down for rampant fraud and are now barred from forming any charities in the state of ny and the Republicans support him. Every. Single. Republicans congressman supports him 100%

Republicans Then: We can hold and write legislation in private and not let anyone see it, until the vote.
Republicans Now: It isn't fair that Schiff held private hearings! (to prevent witness coordination)
Republicans Then: We can impeach Clinton on December 16 (plus or minus a day)
Republicans Now: We cannot impeach Trump a week before Christmas!
Republicans Then: Sullying the office is enough for impeachment!
Republicans Now: Since no crime can be alleged, he must go free!
Republicans Then: We will impeach Hillary as soon as she is elected!
Republicans Now: It isn't right that the Democrats have been trying to impeach the president for three years!
Republicans Then: The vote to impeach must bi-partisan!
Republicans Now: If you vote to impeach, you will be kicked out of the party
Republicans Then: We cannot allow 3 days for the investigate the Kavanugh debacle!
Republicans Now: 22 Days for investigation is not enough time!

Schiff is giving a TED talk here right now. Telling the truth and Republicans hate it.

Please yield all remaining time to Adam Schiff thanks

These 28 Republican members of the incoming Congress voted to impeach or convict President Bill Clinton:
    Rep. Robert Aderholt, Ala.
    Sen. (then-Rep.) Roy Blunt, Miss.
    Rep. Kevin Brady, Texas
    Sen. (then-Rep.) Richard Burr, N.C.
    Rep. Ken Calvert, Calif.
    Rep. Steve Chabot, Ohio
    Sen. (then-Rep.) Mike Crapo, Idaho
    Sen. Mike Enzi, Wyo.
    Sen. (then-Rep.) Lindsey Graham, S.C.
    Rep. Kay Granger, Texas
    Sen. Charles Grassley, Iowa
    Sen. James Inhofe, Okla.
    Rep. Walter Jones, N.C.
    Rep. Frank Lucas, Okla.
    Sen. Mitch McConnell, Ky.
    Sen. (then-Rep.) Jerry Moran, Kan.
    Sen. (then-Rep.) Rob Portman, Ohio
    Sen. Pat Roberts, Kan.
    Rep. Hal Rogers, Ky.
    Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, Wis.
    Sen. Richard Shelby, Ala.
    Rep. John Shimkus, Ill.
    Rep. Chris Smith, N.J.
    Rep. Mac Thornberry, Texas
    Sen. (then-Rep.) John Thune, S.D.
    Rep. Fred Upton, Mich.
    Sen. (then-Rep.) Roger Wicker, Miss.
    Rep. Don Young, Alaska

Democrats running against Andy Biggs for Arizona's 5th Congressional District:
Joan Greene
https://joangreeneaz.com/
Jonathan Ireland
https://ballotpedia.org/Jonathan_Ireland