Robert De Niro: Donald Trump Is "A Fake Resident"

The star of "The Irishman" on Netflix makes his third visit to The Late Show and gives Stephen Colbert his honest opinion about resident Trump and some of the people seeking to replace him in 2020.

Elie Mystal Gets Real On Reparations With CSpan Caller Offering Him $2.00

She called on the Republican line in favor of reparations, but took a bizarre approach. Mystal treated her with more respect than many would have.

Lordy, There Are Tapes: Lev Parnas Hands Over Audio And Video To House Intelligence Committee

Lev Parnas has reportedly handed over potentially damning audio and video of Giuliani and Trump to the House Intelligence Committee

 

By Red Painter

 

Lordy, there are tapes. Audio and video tapes. And photos. And they include both Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump, among others. ABC News is reporting that Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani, has handed over documents, photos and recordings to the House Intelligence Committee. It is unclear what the recordings include, or how they could implicate Giuliani or Trump.

Parnas' attorney, Joe Bondy, just last week made it clear that Parnas planned to comply with any subpoena issued, and had no loyalty to either Trump or Giuliani.

Bondy said in a statement:

"Mr. Parnas has vociferously and publicly asserted his wish to comply with his previously issued subpoena and to provide the House Intelligence Committee with truthful and important information that is in furtherance of justice, not to obstruct it. His evidence and potential testimony is non-partisan, and not intended to be part of a battle between the left and the right, but rather an aid in the determination by our government of what is in the best interests of our nation."

As a quick reminder, Parnas and another man, Igor Fruman were the two associates of Giuliani who were arrested at the airport as they allegedly tried to flee the United States. They are both Soviet born businessmen with shady business dealings, although at this point they have both only been charged with campaign finance violations. It is likely that those charges were a means to get them both in the legal system so they could be squeezed for information related to other investigations, including the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump.

Well, it looks like it may have paid off. It is possible that Parnas is still upset that Donald Trump denied knowing him, even after numerous photos and videos became public.

Maybe the House Intelligence Committee isn't quite done with its hearings just yet.
 

Lindsey Graham's Guide to GOP Impeachment Talking Points

Internet Erupts After Eric Swalwell Rips Massive “Fart” On Live TV

Former Democratic Presidential Candidate Eric Swalwell appeared to let a major fart rip on national television. This was during an appearance on Chris Matthews’ show Hardball on MSNBC.

The Internet immediately erupted, labeling the incident #FartGate, with both Matthews and Swalwell denying that it was actually a fart. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses the absurdity of it all.



https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/addybaird/eric-swalwell-denies-fart-msnbc-chris-matthews

How Did Trump Lose Louisiana? | Morning Blow | MSNBC

Democrat John Bel Edwards won a second term as governor of Louisiana, beating Republican challenger Eddie Rispone delivering a blow to the resident and his efforts to boost members of his party. Aired on 11/18/19.

GOP Senators Will Be Forced To Remove Trump - Polling & Gov Races Show PEOPLE WANT TRUMP GONE!

The recent Republican gubernatorial losses in states like Louisiana and Kentucky are an indicator that people are growing fatigued by Trump. Further, the latest public polling data shows that an overwhelming number of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump's corrupt actions related to Ukraine.



https://www.politico.com/election-results/2019/louisiana/governor/

https://www.politico.com/election-results/2019/kentucky/

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/70-americans-trumps-actions-tied-ukraine-wrong-poll/story?id=67088534

GUILTY! Roger Stone Is Going To Prison

Warren Triggers Crying Billionaire

Billionaires can’t stand Elizabeth Warren.

Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down.

“Leon Cooperman has been one of several billionaires who has been vocally critical of Elizabeth Warren and concerned at the prospect of her becoming president. Warren has a new campaign ad set to air on CNBC tomorrow which swipes at Cooperman at others.

The ad plays Cooperman railing against her “vilification” of the wealthy before featuring a CHARGED WITH INSIDER TRADING graphic. (He ultimately settled with the SEC.)

The ad brings up criticism from others like Lloyd Blankfein and Peter Thiel. CNBC reported on the ad today, and received a pretty angry response from Cooperman:”

 Hosts: Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian

 Cast: Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian

https://www.mediaite.com/election-2020/billionaire-goes-off-on-warren-ad-swiping-at-him-she-doesnt-know-who-the-f-shes-tweeting/

Random Observations On Republicans Getting Kicked In The Taint

Posted by Rude One

1. At some point in the future, barring democracy's end, a Democrat will be president. Let's say for shits and giggles that it's, oh, hell, how about Alyssa Milano? Sure. Why not. Let's say that it's election time and Donald Trump, Jr. decides it's time to throw his dumpy ass into the mix. And let's say, and, why not, Junior's the frontrunner because, hell, Republicans have got no one else. Maybe Junior will have opened a Trump Tower in Jerusalem in the last few years, and that meant doing a lot of business with wealthy people in Israel. Now, as we know, there are politicians (Netanyahu) in Israel who are tits-deep in corruption. We also know that the United States gives a fuck-ton of money in aid to Israel, along with military equipment.

The Republicans' own characterization of what Donald Trump (Senior - that asshole we have now) did with asking for Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden under the banner of "corruption" is that it was perfectly okay to make U.S. aid to Ukraine contingent on the investigation.

So in the future, if President Milano says that aid to Israel won't be released unless and until that country investigates Donald Trump, Junior, under the banner of "corruption," it's all good, right?

Because, see, that's what the fuck you're saying, Republicans. Now, we know that because you're Republicans, you eat and shit hypocrisy, which means that you'll act outraged and pretend that no one has ever done anything so outrageous in the history of ever. But, right now, you're saying that any president can do this to another country and to a political opponent. You want that, fuckers?

2. The best moments in today's impeachment hearings were ones that took Republicans, pulled down their pants, and smacked their asses red. It was pathetically hilarious to see Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, that Ratshit guy, and the rest attempt to fuck the roadkill of the conspiracy theories that were run over time and again by officials who were not just Trump administration hires, but lifelong Republicans, like Kurt Volker and Jennifer Williams. Things got so bad, with GOP members of Congress stepping on their own dicks, stepping on each other's dicks, stepping on dicks that showed up just to be stepped on, that they were forced to try any attack, like on Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman's choice to wear his uniform to the hearing or the TV ratings, fer fuck's sake, or that no one used the word "bribery" in any of their testimony, which is the weirdest fucking thing since witnesses don't get to decide what crimes people will be charged with. Jesus, even Volker, who was pretty much caught lying and had to revise his testimony, couldn't really offer any help. It was utterly useless, but they're gonna pretend like they won a great victory because that's what skeevy hucksters like Donald Trump do.

3. My personal favorite moment came towards the end of the first part of the day. It was when Democratic (notice the adjective form of the word, the one that Republicans refuse to use because they're twat mites) Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney from New York had his five minutes to question Vindman and Williams. Maloney tore up the "hearsay" allegation that Republicans had kept tossing around on the first day by asking both witnesses about the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky: "You heard the call with your own ears, right?...Not second hand, not hearsay, you heard the resident speak. You heard his voice on the call?"

Then, with Vindman, Maloney fucked shit up for the GOP. He asked Vindman why he reported the call to the National Security Council's lead counsel. "Because that was my duty," Vindman said. Maloney asked Vindman to read again one of the final paragraphs of his opening statement, where Vindman was speaking to his father, who had brought his family to the United States, escaping the Soviet Union to do so. Lemme quote this in full:

VINDMAN: Dad, my sitting here today in the U.S. Capitol, talking to our elected officials, is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to the United States America in search of a better life for our family. Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.

MALONEY: You realize when you came forward out of sense of duty that you are putting yourself in direct opposition to the most powerful person in the world. Do you realize that, sir?

VINDMAN: I knew I was assuming a lot of risk.

MALONEY: And I'm struck by that word don't -- that phrase "do not worry," you addressed your dad. Was your dad a warrior?

VINDMAN: He did serve. It was a different military though.

MALONEY: And he would have worried if you were putting yourself up against the president of the United States, is that right?

VINDMAN: He deeply worried about it because in his context there was -- it was the ultimate risk.

MALONEY: And why you have confidence that you can do that and tell your dad not to worry?

VINDMAN: Congressman, because this is America. This is the country I have served and defended, that all of my brothers have served. And here, right matters.

A good number of the audience in the hearing room burst into applause.  Whether or not Vindman is correct about America, we shall see.

4. The picture of resident Trump that came through today is of an out-of-touch idiot who has listened to Rudy Giuliani, another out-of-touch idiot, both of them sharing delusions of conspiracy theories. And when people in the intelligence, national security, and foreign policy communities tried to tell Trump that the batshit allegations about Ukraine and the DNC server or the Bidens are batshit, Trump told them to fuck off and put Giuliani in charge, sending him on a mission to confirm the batshit allegations, eventually bribing Ukraine to almost join him in the delusion pool before all this shit was revealed by the whistleblower and confirmed by the multiple officials who have testified.

Seriously, this is like Trump sending people to search for Barack Obama's birth certificate, except now he gets to do it with the power of the Oval Office and the purse of the United States behind him.

5. Let's give the final word to Democratic Committee Chair Adam Schiff, who finally came about as close to losing his shit at Republicans as he has so far. In his closing remarks today, he pointed out that Republicans don't give a shit what Trump did. "Their objection is that he got caught," Schiff said. Then, getting more intense, he continued, "Their objection is that someone blew the whistle...their defense is that, well, he ended up releasing the aid. Yes! After he got caught. That doesn't make this any less odious."

I think things are going to get even more odious as Republicans start throwing everything at the hearings to see if something will derail the train that Schiff is driving straight at Trump.

(Note: You might think Trump's not really insane and is using the conspiracy theories as a cover for malevolence. I'd say that if he were truly that smart, he'd know to keep this shit quieter. )

The Young Turks Cenk Uygur Running For Congress

NOT DULL!!! MAJOR THINGS Were Learned From Day One Of Public Impeachment Hearings!

Yesterday was day one of the public portion of the impeachment inquiry. Although many in the media are claiming that the testimony was dull (or lacking in the circus atmosphere they pine for), there were MAJOR facts we learned that will lead to new and revealing witnesses who will very likely be subpoenaed as well.

Impeachment Hearings: Devin Nunes Leads the GOP Shit Spewers

Posted by Rude One

Of course, Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, the leading minority member of the House Intelligence Committee, was going to bring up the nude photo prank today, the first day of public impeachment hearings against resident Donald Trump. Nunes brought it up at the start of the inquiry back in late September, so he's a little obsessed with this.

The story is simple: In April 2017, a pair of Russian pranksters pretended to be Ukrainians, with one specifically saying he was the leader of the Rada, Ukraine's parliament, and they called and got through to Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, currently chair of the House Intelligence Committee. They told Schiff that a female Russian TV star had had an affair with Trump and now possessed nude photos of him. They also had recordings, they claimed, of the woman and a journalist discussing this kompromat. Schiff was poker-voiced through the entire thing and ended it by saying he would refer it to the FBI. That's it. That's the whole episode. Schiff's spokesperson said later that Schiff suspected it was a prank.

For Nunes and others on the right, the fact that Schiff didn't yell, "Bullshit!" and cut off the call is prima facie evidence that Schiff cannot be trusted because he so badly wants to get Trump that he wanted naked pics, which, let's be honest, no one fucking wants ever, except possibly Devin Nunes. Nunes said in September, "Of course, Democrats on this very committee negotiated with people they thought were Ukrainians in order to obtain nude pictures of Trump."

And today, in his opening goddamn statement, Nunes brought it up again, saying that Democrats want Americans to "forget about them trying to obtain nude pictures of Trump from Russian pranksters who pretended to be Ukrainian officials." No one asked for Trump dick pics to be sent to them. It's simply not true. But it was par for the course for Nunes, who veered between total cock and skeevy weasel for his entire opening, and it set the tone for Republicans, who were all just the most awful assholes and twat mites for the whole goddamn day.

Nunes took the hearing room and the country on a tour through the fevered shit bog of Fox "news" and Twitter-twisted conspiracy theories, dropping items and names that meant just about nothing to rational humans. But they were signals to the drooling hordes of Trump voters that every lie that has been Hannitied into their tiny brains would be trotted out. "For years they accused the Trump campaign of colluding with Russia when they themselves were colluding with Russia by funding and spreading the Steele dossier, which relied on Russian sources," he said, which is like a parfait of lies layered with slander with bullshit sprinkles on top. I mean, fucking hell, Nunes even brought up Schiff mocking Trump's phone call with Zelensky, which is something Trump can't get over.

He dropped in Alexandra Chalupa (do yourself a favor and don't google her), he lied about the whistleblower and his lawyer, and he offered that witnesses were subject to "a closed-door audition process in a cult-like atmosphere in the basement of the Capitol, where the Democrats conducted secret depositions." Yeah, bitch, they were so secret that dozens of Republicans could attend and ask questions. And "cult-like" is rich coming from a side that is worshiping at the bone-spurred feet of its orange idol.  Of course, they brought up Hunter Biden, and no one asked the GOP members, "Hey, motherfuckers, you ran the joint for two years. How come you didn't investigate him then?"

Seriously, if there is a God and lying matters to Him, then Nunes should have been squeezed by His holy fingers and popped like a filthy human pimple. The fact that that didn't happen is absolute proof to me that either there is no God or he just fucked off out of here a long time ago.

The right-wing nutzoid part of Onlineville fucking lapped it up like Jesus's jizz.  Jim Hoft over at Gateway Pundit declared that Nunes just "destroyed Democrats." The Blaze said Nunes "shredded" them. Katie Pavlich at the conservative shitpot Townhall squeed that Nunes "did not hold anything back and slammed Democrats for damaging the country." No, I'm not linking to any of them because fuck them all. Fuck. Them. All. Individually and as a group. Fuck 'em.

There are competing narratives going on here: one based on facts and law and observable reality, and another based on whatever bat shit thing they can get away with saying. And it's going to infect this process until there is something so shocking and compelling that it breaks through to the 35-40% or so of Americans who get their news from fucking liars.

What's going on now is that Republicans are throwing up a screen of shit, just shooting shit out of their mouths and through their social media and their websites, hoping they can create an opaque curtain of shit that they can hide behind until this all passes. It's disgusting and harmful, but they're Republicans. "Disgusting and harmful" is pretty much their motto now.

Nikki Haley Then: Trump Is Liar. Nikki Haley Now: Trump Is A Great resident | The 11th Hour | MSNBC

In 2016, Nikki Haley was a vocal critic of candidate Trump. Now the fmr. Trump aide, who is on a media tour for her new book, sounds very different.



Oh, Chuck Rosenberg.

You're so quiet and calm, level and reassuring, not so much as a raised eyebrow, or a microscopic increase in decibel level in your voice. And yet, your words slice through what is left of Nikki Haley's reputation like a Ginsu knife.

On Deadline White House, Nicolle Wallace and her panel were discussing how thoroughly and shamelessly Haley has apparently traveled over to the Dark Side. She's practically already booked on Dancing With The Stars for the 2021 season. Here she is pledging fealty to Our Dear Leader, swearing things are not at all what the rest of us see and hear with our own eyes and ears.





https://crooksandliars.com/2019/11/nikki-haley-deserves-zero-credibility-says

NY Times Columnist Makes The Case for Never Bloomberg | Tim Black

You Must Never Vote for Bloomberg

His expansion of the notoriously racially biased stop and frisk program is a complete and nonnegotiable deal breaker.

BIG WEEK AHEAD!!! Here's What to Expect From This Week's Public Impeachment Hearings!

This week we will witness the first PUBLIC hearings related to the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump's bribery scheme involving Ukraine.

Republicans are certain to try to obfuscate and make the process a circus, but rest assured, this will be a week FILLED with major revelations from wildly credible public servants!

GOP Reps. Abandon Trump

GOP representatives run scared, abandoning Trump. John Iadarola and Brooke Thomas break it down on The Damage Report.

Nikki Haley Has Chosen To Lie For Trump

During a Tuesday morning interview, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley says she never had doubts about resident Trump's fitness for office and his truthfulness. The Morning Blow panel discusses Haley's remarks.



Nikki Haley is positioning herself to a presidential run. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down.



"Two of resident Trump’s senior advisers undermined and ignored him in what they claimed was an effort to “save the country,” former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley claims in a new memoir.

Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson and former White House chief of staff John F. Kelly sought to recruit her to work around and subvert Trump, but she refused, Haley writes in a new book, “With All Due Respect,” which also describes Tillerson as “exhausting” and imperious and Kelly as suspicious of her access to Trump.

“Kelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the resident, they weren’t being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country,” Haley wrote. “It was their decisions, not the resident’s, that were in the best interests of America, they said. The resident didn’t know what he was doing,” Haley wrote of the views the two men held." 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nikki-haley-claims-top-aides-tried-to-recruit-her-to-save-the-country-by-undermining-trump/2019/11/10/f92bac88-0267-11ea-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html

Donald Trump Jr Booed Off Stage At Book Launch By His Own Supporters

Trump supporters reacted angrily when told Trump Jr wouldn't be taking any questions.

It's too late to save yourself now, Bill Barr

By Dana Milbank 

Columnist

November 7, 2019 at 6:34 p.m. EST

 

For Bill Barr, it’s too little, too late.

In my news colleagues’ latest scoop, The Post’s Matt Zapotosky, Josh Dawsey and Carol Leonnig report that the attorney general declined to fulfill resident Trump’s request that he publicly exonerate Trump’s “perfect” call with Ukraine’s president — following several actions recently in which “the Justice Department has sought some distance from the White House.”

Right. Like a barnacle seeks distance from a whale.

The distancing maneuver is plainly an attempt by those sympathetic to Barr to make him look a bit less like the resident’s mob lawyer — done anonymously so that Trump wouldn’t rage at Barr but instead blame the “degenerate” Post, as he did Thursday. But Barr has sealed his fate. As Trump’s impeachment looms, Barr has degraded the office Elliot Richardson once dignified. Barr has turned the Justice Department into a shield for residential misconduct and a sword wielded against political opponents.

 

Even as Barr’s latest distancing gambit debuted, he was due to huddle Wednesday with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Trump’s loyal defender, to decide how to release an inspector general’s report examining the FBI’s investigation into Russian 2016 interference and Trump’s campaign. Notably, the Justice Department inspector general himself, Michael Horowitz, was “not expected to attend,” The Post reported, leaving Barr and Graham free to decide what should be declassified to put Trump in the best possible light.

 

Barr’s team aims to get that report out in the coming weeks, just in time for Barr’s holiday party at the Trump International Hotel, for which the attorney general is paying upward of $30,000 to the resident’s business. Barr must have liked what he saw when he dined at the hotel earlier this year on a night when Trump was also there for a fundraiser.

If Barr does manipulate the inspector general’s report to Trump’s advantage, he’ll be reprising his mis-characterization of the Mueller report. Then, before releasing the report, he declared that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III had found “no collusion” (a phrase Mueller did not use), and he cleared Trump of obstruction of justice. It was such a betrayal that Mueller (whom Barr had claimed was his good friend) complained about Barr’s misleading summary. Asked about the objections, Barr, under oath, falsely told Congress he knew nothing about them.

 

Since then, Barr testified to Congress that “I think spying did occur” in the Russia probe, echoing Trump’s claim and earning a public contradiction by FBI Director Christopher A. Wray.

Rewarding Trump loyalists’ demands, Barr appointed a prosecutor (in addition to the inspector general) to examine the Trump-Russia probe, which has mushroomed into a criminal investigation of the investigators. Among those leading the probe? Nora Dannehy, the special prosecutor who decided not to charge any members of the George W. Bush administration after the politically motivated firing of U.S. attorneys and subsequent lies about the actions.

Further indulging Trump’s “witch hunt” claims, Barr traveled to Italy in search of evidence that would discredit the Trump-Russia investigation, and he reportedly asked the resident to enlist the Australian and British governments in the effort. Trump named Barr during his infamous call with the Ukrainian president seeking investigations of Democrats and Joe Biden, according to the White House’s partial reconstruction: “I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it.”

 

The whistleblower got wind of this and said: “Attorney General Barr appears to be involved.” But the Justice Department — Barr’s Justice Department — declined to investigate, even though the CIA inspector general found the complaint “credible” and “urgent.” Barr, though named in the complaint, didn’t recuse himself, even as the Justice Department attempted to block the complaint from reaching Congress, as the law requires. Along the way, he embraced a White House legal strategy of defying subpoenas that has met with a string of defeats in the courts.

Now, as part of the “distancing” campaign, Barr’s Justice Department would have us believe the attorney general never discussed with Trump the prospective Ukraine probe into the Bidens, didn’t talk to Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani about Ukraine and didn’t know anything about the White House withholding aid to Ukraine.

Why would anybody doubt the sincerity of such claims?

Maybe Barr is getting queasy, with two of Giuliani’s Ukraine associates under indictment and Giuliani being turned down by four lawyers before finding representation. Maybe he’s unnerved by what he’s reading in the daily drop of impeachment depositions; on Thursday, another high-ranking State Department official testified about Giuliani’s campaign being “full of lies.” Maybe he even felt a pang of conscience.

It doesn’t matter. During his confirmation hearing in January, Barr vowed to “protect the independence and the reputation of the department.” Instead, he destroyed the former and squandered the latter. We may never know why he ruined his reputation to serve as Trump’s mob lawyer. But it’s far too late for rehabilitation.

Interested in following Dana Milbank’s take on the impeachment inquiry? Sign up here to receive future installments by email.

Read more:

Eugene Robinson: Call Trump’s crime what it is: Bribery

Greg Sargent: More polling confirms it: Trump’s great shield in the impeachment wars is Fox News

Michael Gerson: Trump’s ethical anarchy makes us forget what honor looks like

Max Boot: The anatomy of a Republican smear