The Room Where it Happened 

Impeach, Impeach, Impeach: Putting aside whether it was okay for former national security advisor/author John Bolton to appropriate the title of his soon to be published book from Lin Manuel Miranda, it, like Hamilton, is now the talk of the town only this time the town in Washington, DC rather than NYC.  With the exception of Constitutional law expert/Epstein buddy Alan Dershowitz, none of Trump’s lawyers referred to the Bolton bombshell during yesterday’s hearings but everywhere else it was the subject of discussion, gleeful for Democrats, panicky for Republicans.  Though he’d earlier said that he was working hand in glove with the White House, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell now asserts that he’d been kept in the dark about the Bolton manuscript.  Referencing Bolton’s reminiscences of his days at the White House, Senator Mitt Romney said that he thinks “it's increasingly likely that other Republicans will ... join those of us who think we should hear from John Bolton and whether there are other witnesses and documents," pretty much an assertion that, at least for now and probably for the duration, he’s in the pro-witness camp.  By taking the lead he’s giving cover to other Republicans, Susan Collins already appears to be following his lead and if the pundits are right there may be as many as ten others ready to join them, well maybe.  One of those might be Pennsylvania’s  Pat Toomey who suggested a one-for-one witness swap during yesterday’s Republican Senate luncheon gathering, the implication being that Hunter and/or Joe Biden would be offered up as a “quid pro quo” for Bolton.  So far, neither McConnell nor Chuck Schumer are on board for that. 

Bad Apples:  As to the trial, I’ll admit that I intentionally caught only snippets but from what I heard and what was reported it can be summarized as follows:  Ken Starr who spent years hunting down Bill Clinton before successfully impeaching him for lying about his sexual shenanigans now thinks that impeachment is hell, should be rarely applied and that Trump asking a vulnerable leader for personal help falls far short of screwing around in the Oval office.  Alan Dershowitz just doesn’t think that it’s okay to impeach, especially if no “crime” has been committed and he’s confident that Trump didn’t commit a crime. Senator Elizabeth Warren, also a former Harvard law professor spoke for many saying Dershowitz’s argument was both “contrary to law and fact.“  Pam Bondi, the former Florida Attorney General who accepted payments from Trump’s now defunct charity and then “mysteriously” concluded that Trump University was an above board institution, argued that, the problem is and always has been the Bidens, especially that sleazy Hunter, and that no family member should ever benefit from his or her parents’ connections, a good point, one that she should discuss with her boss. And while she’s at it, she could also apply her standard to Rudy Giuliani, who got little mention despite his involvement in the Ukraine mess.  Giuliani’s son Andrew who was dumped from the Duke golf team for throwing an apple at a team mate and breaking a golf club “earns” an annual salary of $95,000 serving as Trump’s sports liaison.   Of course, Bondi and the rest of the team also slammed Joe Biden for pushing for the ouster of  Viktor Shokin, the corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor that everyone wanted ousted for his failure to pursue corruption.  As to VP Biden, Iowa’s Republican Senator Joni Ernst, who is up for reelection this year, tied herself further to Trump and his quid pro quo Biden attack by saying that she’s “really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters. Will they be supporting Vice President Biden at this point? Not sure about that."  She’s not the only one trying to cozy up to Trump, Georgia’s recently appointed Senator Kelly Loeffler lashed out at Mitt Romney tweeting “Sadly, my colleague @SenatorRomney  wants to appease the left by calling witnesses who will slander  @realDonaldTrump  during their 15 minutes of fame.”  Her Trump defense was probably motivated by House Judiciary ranking member/Trump fanboy  Doug Collins’ announcement that he plans to run for her seat.  Notably Trump wanted Georgia’s governor to appoint Collins in the first place.  To round out the day, VP Pence’s Chief of Staff Marc Short issued a carefully worded statement saying that he’d never heard Trump tell Pence that he was tying financial aid for Ukraine to investigations of the Biden family or Burisma and Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney denied being aware of anything.  The trial will go on today, at some point later in the week things will get interesting when a vote will be held on whether or not to call witnesses and then, if that vote passes, votes will be taken on each of the witnesses proposed.   

Et Cetera:  Secretary of State Pompeo is still angry about his NPR interview, the one where he came off looking like the creep that he is, so he has retaliated by having the State Department boot another NPR reporter from serving as the pool radio reporter from his upcoming trip to Ukraine and other countries in Europe and Central Asia.  Last night the NY Times reported on another revelation included in Bolton’s manuscript.  In this one Bolton asserts that he privately told Attorney General Barr that he was concerned that Trump was granting favors to the autocratic leaders of China and Turkey and that Barr shared his concern.  Although no one has yet admitted sharing the Bolton book excerpts with the Times, it's thought that the White House made several copies of the one that they were given to review and that someone there is the likely source, because as much as Trump rails against leakers, the leaking almost always comes from the White House.  As to John Bolton, the party line as voiced by Fox pundit Lou Dobbs is that Bolton, the former conservative darling is now a tool for radical Democrats.  With Israeli Prime Minister for now Netanyahu by his side Trump is going to announce his and Jared Kushner's Mideast peace plan today. And yesterday by a 5 to 4 ruling across the usual lines, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration’s public charge rule to go into effect.  That means that immigrants who rely on public assistance while they are making their way up the ladder, including most forms of Medicaid, food stamps and housing vouchers, will find it harder, if not impossible, to get Green cards.  So much for that Emma Lazarus “give me your tired, your poor” thing.