It's a trap

I don't for a minute believe there have been several simultaneous come-to-Jesus moments within the past few hours.

I desperately hope I'm wrong.

There's no requirement that an impeachment inquiry result in a Senate vote

Even if the House votes to impeach, there is no obligation that it be put to a vote in the Senate.

Personally, I think we should get every Senator on the record, prior to the 2020 election.

But, if Pelosi so decided, she needn't refer to the Senate for a vote, or she could slow-walk it until after the election.

VP Biden threatened to withhold $$ from Ukraine until they removed a corrupt prosecutor

People need to know what the facts are when Trump tried to make a false equivalency.

VP Biden *did* threaten to withhold support.

Trump is trying to make it seem as though what they did was identical, the only difference being that they disagree on which side is corrupt.

If we've learned anything from the 2016 election, it should be to face the lies and throw the facts back at them just as loudly. They win when we assume everyone knows what the truth is.

The grain of truth in the lie is what gives power to the lie. We must confront it.

So, in this case, get familiar with how the two stories differ. The corrupt prosecutor (Viktor Shokin) is key to the story.

Here's the best link I've seen so far. Please add more.

https://www.justsecurity.org/66101/trump-and-giulianis-quest-for-fake-ukraine-dirt-on-biden-an-explainer/

Just imagine: if this is what he's willing to do when all eyes are ON him

...how much more was he able to do when nobody was watching?

Meet the Florida Duo Helping Giuliani Dig Dirt for Trump in Ukraine

Really loooong article, and from earlier this year. But extremely helpful in understanding some of the background.

Parnas and Fruman are the "clients" Giuliani kept sputtering about during his Chris Cuomo interview meltdown.

This story screams "FOLLOW THE MONEY!"

From the Black Sea to Boca

The previous business dealings of both Parnas and Fruman raise serious concerns about their newfound access to senior American political figures.

A resident of upscale Boca Raton, Parnas once ran an electronics business that was successfully sued for its role in a fraudulent penny stock promotion scheme. He has also worked for three brokerages that later lost their licenses for fraud and other violations. He has never been personally charged.

Court records also show that judges have awarded a series of default judgements against Parnas for multiple unpaid debts. These include over $500,000 he owes to an investor in a Hollywood movie that he had promoted but was never made. He has also been sued a dozen times over the last decade for failing to pay rent on various Palm Beach County properties and has been evicted from two homes.

Fruman’s backstory is even more colorful.

"Bibi, I promise, you'll win"

Was that it?

"That, I can promise you."

Dollars to donuts, that's the quote involved.

Fortunately for us, we all know how much his promises are worth.

So let me get this straight: foreign leaders have more rights than Americans?

That's the essence of it, isn't it?

(Sort of like how foreign ambassadors are exempt from certain laws while on us soil, I suppose.)

Trump has a conversation with a foreign leader over the phone, says something, and we, the American public, do not have the right to know what it was?

And worse, Congress does not have the right to know.

But that foreign leader has the right to know.

If that's not the working definition of sedition or treason or spying, I don't know what is.

The United States president engaged in "secret" communication with a foreign government, and is deliberately and vigorously denying access by the official legal oversight body, namely the United States Congress, to that information. Thus, the president has elevated a foreign government above our own duly elected Congress.

WTF are we waiting for???

So, when Lyin' Lewandowski finally admitted that the Mueller report

was mostly true, what part of it, do you suppose, wasn't true?

I wish there had been time for that question to have been asked.

Also, I wish he had been asked whether everything he wrote in his books was true and accurate. He admitted to lying on TV and in interviews, but was he ever asked if he lied in his books? Seems those would have been good things to nail down.

IMHO, there were very few take home messages from his testimony today. 1 he's a liar. 2 he only tells the truth when he has sworn an oath to Congress or other law enforcement.

Everything else he said used wiggle words. Like the admission that "most" of the Mueller report (with respect to him) was accurate (to the best of his recollection). IOW, he didn't admit anything.

I'll celebrate when our House committee leadership starts coming down hard on these no-shows and this bogus executive privilege bullshit.

Has he been dubbed "Lying Lewandowski" yet?

If not, let's get on it. Although he'll wear it as a badge of honor.