Summations Only

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DEVIN NUNES SPENT $57,000 ON FLIGHTS TO EUROPE TO ALLEGEDLY INVESTIGATE BIDENS AS ETHICS COMPLAINT FILED OVER 'ABUSE' OF OFFICE

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Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking Republican member on the House Intelligence Committee, spent nearly $57,000 on a trip to Europe for him and his staff to allegedly investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, records show.

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Parnas said he met Nunes in a secretive trip to Vienna, Austria, between November and December 2018, and put him in touch with former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokinthe lawyer who was ousted from his position in 2016 after pressure from Western leaders, including Biden, who said he was not doing enough to combat corruption.

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Reports filed with the Office of the Clerk for the House of Representatives show that Nunes claimed expenses for a four-day trip to Europe at the time in question between November 30 and December 3. ...

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If the allegations are correct, they could have deeply embarrassing and damaging repercussions as the committee Nunes sits on is the one investigating President Donald Trump in the Democrats' current push for impeachment.

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They accuse Trump and his associates of allegedly attempting to enlist a foreign government to dig up dirt on a domestic political opponent, while Congressionally approved aid was withheld until the request was metin essence, bribery.

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Nunes, who has been one of Trump's most strident defenders on the committee, repeatedly labelling the impeachment inquiry a "circus," should have recused himself from the proceedings if the allegations are true.

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It has since been confirmed by the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith, that Nunes will likely face an ethics investigation into the claims.

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Couldn’t happen to a nicer cow.We know that #MadCow Nunes made up an Intelligence report when he was head of the committee which was criticized by the intelligence agencies as highly inaccurate. We also know it (a) absolved the Russians, (b) accused Ukraine of interfering in the 2016 election and (c) that Dr Hill said that the Ukraine involvement narrative was part of Russian propaganda and Russian interference in the 2016 election.The #MadCow Nunes report is a false narrative.Enjoy

Though I agree this is huge, I really would like to see some corroboration. Lev is not the most reputable source there is. Once more news organizations start reporting this I will be more confident in its legitimacy.

Agreed, but we do have means, motive and opportunity.Enjoy

Trump Denies Directing Rudy Giuliani To Conduct Ukraine Shadow Diplomacy | HuffPost Latest News

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No, I didn’t direct him, but he is a warrior, he is a warrior, Trump told O’Reilly.

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When O’Reilly asked the president what Giuliani was doing in Ukraine on his behalf, Trump said, you have to ask that to Rudy.

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Rudy has other clients other than me, Trump said, adding that he knew his personal attorney was going to Ukraine at one point but canceled the trip.

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My guess is that Rudy has way too much on Donnie to be truly underbussed by him.I suspect that Rudy has advised Trump to do this, banking on his own ability as a lawyer/liar to protect himself from any criminal consequences.

Rudy will likely simply refuse to answer questions siting Attorney Client Privilege. Thus he never says anything bad about Trump while throwing Trump under the bus. But Trump is too dumb to realize that is what is going to happen.

My understanding is that once you have discussed something on TV it no longer is privileged information.Enjoy

My point is that the two Gentlemen will simply attempt to toss the other guy from the sleigh.

If the subject has been publicly discussed that can and should constitute waiving of attorney/client privilege. Also, there is the crime-fraud exception to attorney client privilege. I think they fall squarely under that.

Wonder what Rudy thinks he has on DumbtyTrumpty. Taped conversations? If I were him I would.Enjoy

Giuliani has other problems

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Prosecutors are looking into Giuliani’s money, into his Ukrainian ties, and into a long list of possible crimes.
By Andrew Prokopandrew@vox.com Nov 26, 2019, 4:20pm EST

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The investigation into Rudy Giuliani and his associates by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) is heating up, according to a set of new reports and new details suggest prosecutors are looking into matters near the heart of the Ukraine scandal.

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The new reports cite subpoenas sent out to various associates of President Trump’s personal attorney by SDNY. The subpoenas reveal that prosecutors are looking into Giuliani’s business and finances, that they’re exploring his contacts with former top Ukrainian officials, and that they’re investigating a host of potential crimes.

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Prosecutors are investigating a lot of potential crimes

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The Wall Street Journal’s Rebecca Davis O’Brien, Rebecca Ballhaus, and Shelby Holliday had the first major story on the Giuliani associate subpoenas this week. They reported that the subpoenas they’d heard about listed more than a half dozen potential charges under consideration. These were:

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• Obstruction of justice
• Money laundering
• Conspiracy to defraud the United States
• Making false statements to the federal government
• Serving as agent of a foreign government without registering
• Donating funds from foreign nationals
• Making contributions in the name of another person or allowing someone else to use one’s name
• Mail fraud
• Wire fraud

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That’s ... a lot. Many of these potential crimes relate to foreign influence either about unregistered foreign lobbying or getting foreign money into the campaign finance system. Others are more typical crimes, such as obstruction and fraud.

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We can expect to hear more soon.Will he turn like Cohen?Enjoy

Plenty of room under the bus for everybody.

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White House review turns up emails showing extensive effort to justify Trump’s decision to block Ukraine military aid

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A confidential White House review of President Trump’s decision to place a hold on military aid to Ukraine has turned up hundreds of documents that reveal extensive efforts to generate an after-the-fact justification for the decision and a debate over whether the delay was legal, according to three people familiar with the records.

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The research by the White House Counsel’s Office, which was triggered by a congressional impeachment inquiry announced in September, includes early August email exchanges between acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House budget officials seeking to provide an explanation for withholding the funds after the president had already ordered a hold in mid-July ...

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One person briefed on the records examination said White House lawyers are expressing concern that the review has turned up some unflattering exchanges and facts that could at a minimum embarrass the president. It’s unclear whether the Mulvaney discussions or other records pose any legal problems for Trump in the impeachment inquiry, but some fear they could pose political problems if revealed publicly.

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In the early August email exchanges, Mulvaney asked acting OMB director Russell Vought for an update on the legal rationale for withholding the aid and how much longer it could be delayed. Trump had made the decision the prior month without an assessment of the reasoning or legal justification, according to two White House officials. Emails show Vought and OMB staffers arguing that withholding aid was legal, while officials at the National Security Council and State Department protested. OMB lawyers said that it was legal to withhold the aid, as long as they deemed it a temporary hold, according to people familiar with the review.

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Mulvaney’s request for information came days after the White House Counsel’s Office was put on notice that an anonymous CIA official had made a complaint to the agency’s general counsel about Trump’s July 25 call to Zelensky during which he requested Ukraine investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, as well as an unfounded theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

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This official would later file a whistleblower complaint with the intelligence community’s inspector general, which ignited the impeachment push when its existence became public.

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Mulvaney is a critical player in the Ukraine saga, as he has acknowledged that he asked the OMB to block the release of congressionally approved aid to Ukraine at the president’s request in early or mid-July 2019. ...

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The legal office launched this fact-finding review of internal records in a protective mode, both to determine what the records might reveal about internal administration conversations and also to help the White House produce a timeline for defending Trump’s decision and his public comments. Along with examining documents, the review has also involved interviewing some key White House officials involved in handling Ukraine aid and dealing with complaints and concerns in the aftermath of the call between Trump and Zelensky.

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Cipollone’s office has focused closely on correspondence that could be subject to public records requests, those which involve discussions between staff at the White House and at other agencies. Internal White House records are not subject to federal public records law, but messages that include officials at federal agencies are.

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Also included in the review are email communications between OMB and State Department officials and others discussing why the White House was holding up nearly $400 million in military aid and whether the hold might violate the law, one person said. In December 2018, months before the Ukraine issue surfaced as a top priority for the president, the Government Accountability Office had warned the OMB it was not following the law in how it chose to disburse and withhold congressionally approved funds.

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In other words, coverup.We may not have tapes as happened with Nixon, but we have something they didn't have: e-mails.Enjoy

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Impeachment Witness Deposition Reveals Why They Were Told To Hold Ukraine Aid

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Newly released transcripts from the deposition of Mark Sandy, an official at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), reveal that OMB was allegedly instructed to withhold aid to Ukraine because President Donald Trump was concerned about other countries not contributing more to Ukraine.

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Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) responded to the release of the transcripts from the deposition, which happened on Chairman Adam Schiff’s House Intelligence Committee, by writing on Twitter, The transcript for OMB’s Mark Sandy was just released. The ONLY reason he was ever given why there was a hold on $ to Ukraine was ‘the President’s concern about other countries not contributing more to Ukraine.’ NOT bribery. NOT quid pro quo or any other WACKY Schiff conspiracy!

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The problems with this "explanation" areFirst, there is no record of any request for other aid,Second, there is no record of this condition being approved by congress (as there was for the previous aid for release by Biden), andThird, there is no record of any aid received by Ukraine from other countries before the aid was released.In other words, it's a coverup, another White House lie.Enjoy