Good Riddance

Boo: While we were doling out sugar treats to princesses, monsters and space rangers, the House passed a resolution laying out the rules for the impeachment inquiry.  The resolution passed 232 to 196, with all but two Democrats and the former Republican Justin Amash voting for it but with no current Republicans crossing the line.  While the fact that no Republicans were willing to vote for the resolution was disappointing, their votes weren’t all that surprising.  A number of Republicans, particularly some of those retiring at the end of 2020, might actually vote for impeachment after hearings are held, and a few others could crossover if, as expected, public sentiment grows increasingly pro-impeachment after public hearings are held,  but with this resolution only setting ground rules, there was no point in any Republicans exposing themselves to Trump’s wrath this early in the process. After the vote, Press Secretary Grisham released a statement calling the impeachment resolution “unfair, unconstitutional, and fundamentally un-American,” even though the specified rules are substantially the same as those used during the Clinton impeachment except that they provide Trump with a few privileges that were not granted to Clinton, notable since Clinton was impeached for lying about his sex-capades while Trump is being impeached for screwing the country.

As to his wrath, Trump is doing his best to influence the Senate, the body that will ultimately serve as his jury once the House actually votes to impeach him.  Politico reports that he’s playing a carrot and really big stick game with senators, “rewarding those who have his back on impeachment and sending a message to those who don’t to get them on board.”  He’s doing that by tapping into his fundraising network to help three of the most vulnerable senators: Iowa’s Joni Ernst, Colorado’s Cory Gardner and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, all of whom are having trouble raising money on their own because they are so underwater in their respective states.  And why not? Because when you are being impeached for pressing a foreign country to interfere in an election on your behalf, what’s a little jury tampering? For the record, buying votes isn’t just tacky, it’s also illegal but Trump is Trump so whatever.  Anyway, it appears that Maine’s Susan Collins is not on his list, though she’s already been the beneficiary of a lot of Mitch McConnell cash and may also have received one of McConnell’s golden permission slips to vote any way she wants .  

More of the Same:  While the House was voting, Tim Morrison, the departing top adviser on Russia and Europe in Trump's National Security Council was testifying in the SCIF.  He reinforced much of what other officials have testified, that Trump threatened to withhold aid money to Ukraine until it agreed to investigate the Biden family. In addition to confirming the quid pro quo, he confirmed that EU Ambassador/Donor Sondland, did tell a Ukrainian official that military aid would be released only if the country investigated the Burisma energy firm. Morrison also said he did not necessarily view Trump’s demands as improper or illegal, but rather “problematic for US policy in supporting an ally in the region.” Notably, various Republicans leaked out that portion of his testimony, the one fragment of what’s been said to date that any of them felt was worth sharing with the press and public.

On Tap: More closed door testimony is scheduled for next week.  Among the “invitees” are John Eisenberg, the lead lawyer for the National Security Council, and Michael Ellis, a senior associate counsel to the president.  Eisenberg is the lawyer who stashed the “transcript” of the call with Ukraine’s Zelensky in the White House’s super- secret server, something that he had previously done with at least one other “disturbing” Trump call.  We’ll have to wait until next week to see if either of them actually show up.  We’ll also have to wait to see if John Bolton shows up.  Yesterday, two District Court judges in Washington heard cases that might influence his decision.  The first pertained to whether former White House Counsel Don McGahn could be compelled to testify about Trump’s obstruction of the Russian investigation, the second pertained to whether Bolton’s aide  Charles Kupperman could be compelled to testify about Ukraine.  The judge overseeing the McGahn case, an Obama appointee, wasn’t all that impressed with the Justice Department’s case, she dismissed their claims that it was inappropriate for the House Judiciary committee to resolve its differences with the Justice Department in court and also cast doubt over the department’s assertion that Trump’s claim of executive immunity could stand in the way of McGahn’s testimony.  The judge overseeing the Kupperman case, a Bush appointee, was less forthcoming but did schedule an expedited hearing for December 10  in light of the case’s importance.  Unfortunately that date isn’t all that helpful given that the House plans to be well into its public impeachment hearings by then.  It is possible that McGahn’s judge will issue an oral ruling sooner and that her decision will facilitate Bolton’s testimony.  It’s also possible that he’ll come forward without a court decision.        

Florida Man:  Trump is no longer a New Yorker, he’s changed his legal residency to Florida, the preferred home of people avoiding NY state, local and inheritance taxes. His move is hardly surprising, after all his tax law pretty much destroyed the state and local tax deduction.  Trump explained his decision by tweeting “Despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state.” Of course, none of us know how much he’s paid in NY taxes because he hasn’t released any of his returns, but apparently he is really furious that NYS is trying so hard to make that information public. Governor Cuomo and a number of other NY officials responded by saying “good riddance.” Trump’s change of residence should not impact any of the cases pending against him in New York.  In other news, North Korea launched two more missiles and Chile has canceled a pair of major global summits on the economy and environment amid local unrest,  a problem for Trump because though he has no interest in any of that environment stuff, he hoped to sign a first-step trade deal with China while in Chile. That’s the agreement that won’t really do much to advance anything substantive with China but would provide Trump with a much needed photo op and talking point. Also, economic growth was down last quarter to 1.9%, far below the 4 to 5% that Trump promised.  At the end of the day, that could be a bigly problem for his election prospects more than anything else.

Happy weekend.  Enjoy the marathon especially if you are running!