Ukraine
Ron Johnson, Walking Simpson's 'You Tried' Gif, Releases Biden Ukraine Report
Slow clap.
September 23, 2020 12:27 PM
DID YOU KNOW DID YOU KNOW DID YOU KNOW?!?!1¿1??¿?!
Did you know that Joe Biden's son is a fuckup who traded on his family name and got a job on a Ukrainian company's board like every other child of a politician in DC including two who are working in the White House right this very moment?
Oh, you did? Well, then, the report just dropped by The Senate's Dumbest Republican™ won't contain much new information for you.
Despite being warned by US intelligence agencies and members of his very own party that he and Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley were laundering Russian propaganda, Senator Ron Johnson went ahead and dropped his hastily polished turd this morning, right in the middle of the SCOTUS nomination/200,000 coronavirus deaths/crazy shit Trump said last night news cycle, where it promptly rolled into the corner largely unnoticed.
The big conclusion of the report is that Hunter Biden being on the board of Burisma was UNLEGAL because it violated anti-awkwardness statutes.
Yes, for real.
<p>See, former Acting Deputy Chief of Mission in Ukraine George Kent testified that "the presence of Hunter Biden on the Burisma board was very awkward for all US officials pushing an anticorruption agenda in Ukraine." Which is a fair assessment, and one that Biden's longtime State Department official Amos Hochstein also brought to his attention — having the son of the American Vice President in the employ of a corrupt oligarch was a bad look when we were telling Ukraine to clean up its act <em>or else</em>. </p><p>But there's no evidence that Biden changed US policy to help his son, so Johnson leans into the criminal "awkwardness." </p><p>Johnson warns ominously that, "Although Kent believed that Hunter Biden's role on Burisma's board was awkward for <em>all</em> U.S. officials pushing an anti-corruption agenda in Ukraine," only Kent and Hochstein mentioned it to Biden personally. From which we are to infer ... something?</p><p>It was extremely awkward for the State Department to have to "maintain situational awareness of Hunter Biden's association with Burisma," and George Kent testified that he "would have advised any American not to get on the board of Zlochevsky's company." Check and mate, libs!</p><p>"The awkwardness for Obama administration officials continued well past his presidency," Johnson continues, pointing to one time in December of 2019 when someone asked John Kerry a question about it. Johnson neglects to point out that both the awkwardness and the question were likely a result of a raging <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/10/trump-team-welcomed-russian-disinformation-trump-administration-further-confirms/" target="_blank">Russian disinformation campaign</a> spearheaded by the president's pro bono lawyer <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/rudys-ukrainium-one-scam-is-so-fetch" target="_blank">Rudy Giuliani</a>, not because people were still upset about something Joe Biden said in 2015. </p><p>In fact, there are quite a few glaring omissions in Johnson's little book report. He forgets to mention that George Kent <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/14/779074889/7-moments-that-stood-out-from-the-1st-day-of-the-trump-impeachment-hearings" target="_blank">testified</a> in the impeachment hearings that there was absolutely nothing corrupt in the way Vice President Biden handled the Ukraine issue. Let's take a wildass guess that Kent said exactly the same thing behind closed doors to Johnson's Get Biden investigators, but that didn't make its way into the report, and Johnson refused to release the full transcripts.</p><p>Johnson points to allegations that Burisma paid a $7 million bribe to Ukrainian prosecutors in 2014 to get the case against its owner dropped, but then asks us to believe that the vice president's insistence in 2015 and 2015 that Ukraine fire its chief prosecutor Viktor Shokin was also an effort to get the case dropped. Because, <em>linear time how does it go?</em></p><p>And, lest we forget, Ron Johnson himself signed a <a href="https://www.portman.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/portman-durbin-shaheen-and-senate-ukraine-caucus-reaffirm-commitment-help" target="_blank">letter</a> in 2016 demanding that Ukraine clean house in its prosecutor's office, the very Russian talking point that's supposed to be the linchpin of his case against Biden. Which is ... awkward.</p><p>And speaking of awkward, check out this footage from the April 16, 2014 meeting at the White House between Hunter Biden's business partner Devon Archer and Joe Biden.</p>
<div id="23087" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4278dea11c1fd1f477477f5a720fd7d6"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1308786194126340097" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">@SenRonJohnson’s report on Hunter Biden begins with the nefarious suggestion that an April 2014 meeting between H… https://t.co/I8W5c7si8s</div> — Adam Entous (@Adam Entous)<a href="https://twitter.com/adamentous/statuses/1308786194126340097">1600873919.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Oh, Ron Johnson, you really Johnson-ed the hell out of this report!</p><p>So into the space where actual info might be, the good senator inserts speculation and implication, leavened with extensive attacks on Democrats and the Deep State. Since Rudy's buddy Andrii Derkach has been <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/turns-out-rudys-been-colluding-with-russian-spies-all-along-whaaaaaaat" target="_blank">declared a Russian spy</a>, Johnson relies instead on Derkach's agent <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/ukraine-whistleblower-politico-story-dnc-telizhenko" target="_blank">Andrii Telizhenko</a>, the source for the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/a-new-york-times-reporter-dug-into-ukraine-and-the-democrats-critics-are-still-howling/2019/11/15/4fb97812-0661-11ea-ac12-3325d49eacaa_story.html" target="_blank">debunked</a> 2017 Ken Vogel <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446" target="_blank">article</a> implying that perhaps Ukraine was the real collusion. Johnson's fellow Republicans dug in their heels and refused to bring a shady character like Telizhenko in to testify, but Johnson whines for pages and pages about mean Democrats impugning his witness.</p><p>He also spends a lot of time telling us that Hunter Biden is <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/08/will-hunter-biden-jeopardize-his-fathers-campaign" target="_blank">gross</a> and made money off his last name. Which ... hey, no argument here, dude. But in the end, Johnson admits that he came up empty in his quest to prove that Joe Biden lifted a finger to use the power of his office to help his son.</p><p>"The extent to which Hunter Biden's role on Burisma's board affected U.S. policy toward Ukraine is not clear," Johnson writes. "But what is clear from the records, however, is that State Department officials, particularly Kent himself, regularly considered how Hunter Biden's connection to Burisma might affect the execution of U.S. policy."</p><p>So Biden didn't do shit, but the State Department had <em>thoughts</em> about Hunter Biden? That's all he's got, after weeks of hyping this report and <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/ron-johnson-stop-trying-to-make-burisma-happen-this-seasons-story-is-that-biden-is-a-socialist-blm-antifa" target="_blank">promising</a> that "we're going to learn a whole lot more of Vice President Biden's unfitness for office"? Really?</p><p>Oooooof, now that's AWKWARD.</p><p>[<a href="Hunter%20Biden,%20Burisma,%20and%20Corruption:%20The%20Impact%20on%20U.S.%20Government%20Policy%20and%20Related%20Concerns" target="_blank">Senate Report</a> / <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/23/gop-senators-anti-biden-report-420362" target="_blank">Politico</a> / <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/23/gops-hunter-biden-report-doesnt-back-up-trumps-actual-conspiracy-theory-or-anything-close-it/" target="_blank">WaPo</a>]</p><p><strong>Follow Liz Dye on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/5DollarFeminist" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE!</a></strong><br></p><p><strong>Please click here to support your Wonkette. And if you're ordering your quarantine goods on Amazon, <a href="https://amzn.to/2wbH77j" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this is the link to do it.</a></strong></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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2020 presidential election
Ron Johnson, Stop Trying To Make Burisma Happen. This Season's Story Is That Biden Is A Socialist BLM Antifa!
Hell, he's embarrassing Marco Rubio.
September 17, 2020 12:43 PM
The Senate's dumbest Republican is also the Senate's least subtle Republican.
Coincidence?
Probably not. But his hometown paper the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has helpfully compiled a list of times when Senator Ron Johnson shouted I AM ABUSING MY OFFICE TO CONDUCT A POLITICAL HIT ON JOE BIDEN WITH THE HELP OF RUSSIAN SPIES! Or words to that effect.
Last month, he promised a rightwing radio host that his work as chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee "would certainly help Donald Trump win reelection and certainly be pretty good, I would say, evidence about not voting for Vice President Biden."
"What our investigations are uncovering, I think, will reveal that this is not somebody that we should be electing president of the United States," he told another talk show host this week.
And on a Monday teleconference with his GOP colleagues, Johnson predicted a killing blow from his committee, saying, "Stay tuned. In about a week we're going to learn a whole lot more of Vice President Biden's unfitness for office." He plans to release an interim report just before the first debate on September 29. Sneaky!
<p>Johnson's not even pretending to be conducting legitimate government business. This is a pro-Trump disinformation campaign, funded by taxpayer dollars, relying on Russian propaganda, and deliberately timed to deliver an October surprise à la FBI Director James Comey's infamous reopening of the Clinton email investigation five minutes before the polls opened.</p><p>"We've got to speed it up, because we've got an election coming," he <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ron-johnson-takes-heat-saying-russia-probe-would-help-trump-election" target="_blank">told</a> Fox News in August. <em>Yeah, dude, we heard you the first thousand times.</em></p><p>Even Johnson's Republican colleagues are backing away in horror. In December, then-Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr warned Johnson that he was airing Russian disinformation and playing right into Putin's hands. Current Chair Marco Rubio <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate-intelligence-committee-rejects-request-by-gop-senators-for-documents-from-russia-investigation" target="_blank">told</a> Johnson to get bent, because he wasn't sharing transcripts of closed-door interviews from his committee's Russia investigation so Johnson could repurpose them for a pro-Kremlin attack this cycle. And although Mitt Romney voted to authorize Johnson to subpoena multiple officials such as Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper about the origins of the Russia investigation, he drew the line at subpoenas relating to Johnson's Biden-Ukraine hit, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/16/senate-panel-authorizes-subpoenas-in-republican-probe-targeting-obama-officials-415916" target="_blank">saying</a> it was "not the legitimate role of government, for Congress or for taxpayer expense, to be used in an effort to damage political opponents."</p><p>Johnson's crackpot theory — which just so happens to align with the Russian propaganda Rudy Giuliani has been laundering with his pals at OANN — is that Biden discouraged the Ukrainian government from investigating the owner of Burisma, a company that employed his son Hunter Biden, insisting that the investigating prosecutor be fired or the country would face a loss of US aid. The problem with this theory is that the IMF, the EU, the entire US government, and even Ron Johnson himself also <a href="https://www.portman.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/portman-durbin-shaheen-and-senate-ukraine-caucus-reaffirm-commitment-help" target="_blank">insisted</a> that this prosecutor had to go. </p><p>Johnson has called former State Department envoy Amos Hochstein, who worked closely with Biden on Ukraine, to testify before the committee today. According to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/blog/meet-press-blog-latest-news-analysis-data-driving-political-discussion-n988541/ncrd1240270#blogHeader" target="_blank">NBC</a>, Hochstein has consistently maintained that US policy was never altered to benefit Burisma, or its owner Mykola Zlochevsky. In fact just the opposite, with the Obama administration urging the Ukrainian government to go after Zlochevsky in 2015. But who are you gonna believe, a guy who was in the room when it happened, or a <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1118" target="_blank">literal Russian spy</a> like Andrii Derkach, who's been <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/meet-the-ukrainian-idiot-laundering-russian-propaganda-into-the-senates-dumbest-republicans-brain" target="_blank">feeding info</a> to Johnson and Devin Nunes via his pal Andrii Telizhenko?</p><p>That's a trick question! Because you are presumably not a vicious little treasonweasel like Ron Johnson. But if you were, you'd take information from skeevy chancers like Andrii Telizhenko, who <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/ukraine-whistleblower-politico-story-dnc-telizhenko" target="_blank">invented</a> the "Ukraine is the Real Collusion" lie, and run with it despite clear and persistent warnings from the FBI and US intelligence agencies that he and his buddy Andrii Derkach are part of a Russian influence campaign to swing the 2020 presidential election against Joe Biden.</p><p>Hell, here's FBI Director Chris Wray saying it <em>today.</em></p><div id="f8e9b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="816070c1cb3bad0815840a08428ccb5c"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1306596803312144386" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">FBI Director Wray testifies that foreign election interference this cycle is aimed "primarily to denigrate Vice Pre… https://t.co/umSeBwhpPV</div> — Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar)<a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/statuses/1306596803312144386">1600351927.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Even OANN knows the jig is up. But not our Ron, who's still trying to fornicate with the barnyard fowl.</p><div id="1468e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a50cb5fc1577585494619e29d5109e05"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1306590170133794816" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Heh. Just noticed @OANN deleted all Derkach tagged stories from its site, including a Reuters story on the Ukrainia… https://t.co/rJN61wOdzB</div> — Christopher Miller (@Christopher Miller)<a href="https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/statuses/1306590170133794816">1600350346.0</a></blockquote></div><p>But don't worry, Ron Johnson has an answer for anyone accusing him of laundering Russian disinformation, and it is HILLARY CLINTON.<br></p><p>"You can say this is corrosive to our politics, these investigations, but what's corrosive to our politics is when we have two totally different systems of justice where Hillary Clinton and Democrats — they just never face the music. They never get indicted," he complained to the <em>Journal Sentinel.</em> "They don't get investigated well. But a Republican — we end up trying to impeach him over a phone call between two presidents that never should have even seen the light of day."</p><p>Here on Planet Earth, the Justice Department, which is run by Bill <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/bill-barr-is-out-of-f-cking-control" target="_blank">"Political Interference Is My Middle Name" </a>Barr, just <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-dept-winds-down-clinton-related-inquiry-once-championed-by-trump-it-found-nothing-of-consequence/2020/01/09/ca83932e-32f9-11ea-a053-dc6d944ba776_story.html" target="_blank">gave up</a> trying to indict someone over Hillary Clinton's emails in January of 2020. Hillary Clinton left the State Department in 2013!</p><p>Oh, also, Ron Johnson has to conduct a political hit on Joe Biden because the media made him do it.</p><p>"What's corrosive is ... also the massive bias in the media that refuses to point out all the accomplishments of this administration and only focuses on tweets and false narratives," Johnson continued.</p><p>So! In summary and in conclusion, Ron Johnson is laundering Russian propaganda to help Trump get reelected, he's admitting it publicly, and he has to do it because the media reports on all the crazy shit the president tweets.</p><p>If this guy were competent, he might really be dangerous.</p><p>[<a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/09/17/ron-johnson-mitt-romney-questions-his-investigation-joe-biden/3477730001/" target="_blank">Journal Sentinel</a> / <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/blog/meet-press-blog-latest-news-analysis-data-driving-political-discussion-n988541/ncrd1240270#blogHeader" target="_blank">NBC</a> / <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/27/biden-adviser-ukraine-probe-disposition-403844" target="_blank">Politico</a> / <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-intel-repeatedly-warned-about-andriy-derkach-rudy-giulianis-russian-agent-pal" target="_blank">Beast</a>]</p><p><strong>Follow Liz Dye on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/5DollarFeminist" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE!</a></strong><br></p><p><strong>Please click here to support your Wonkette. And if you're ordering your quarantine goods on Amazon, <a href="https://amzn.to/2wbH77j" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this is the link to do it.</a></strong></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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White House
Vindman Brothers Burning Down NSC From BEYOND THE RETIREMENT GRAVE
Don't fuck with nerds.
August 27, 2020 10:04 AM
The Vindman brothers are back to burn it all down, baby.
Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman, twin brother of impeachment witness Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, filed a whistleblower complaint alleging retaliation by individuals at the White House, including the president and national security advisor. And now the chairs of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Reform, and Armed Services Committees are demanding an investigation by the Acting (natch) Inspector General of the Department of Defense.
On February 7, both Vindman brothers were abruptly fired and escorted off the White House grounds in an unmistakeable display of retaliation for their role in Trump's impeachment. Yevgeny was a legal advisor to the National Security Council on which his brother was the Director of European Affairs. Both raised concerns with John Eisenberg, the NSC's legal advisor, about Trump's infamous PERFECT, PERFECT extortion call with the president of Ukraine.
<p>Eisenberg was up to his beady little eyeballs in the impeachment mess, having <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/hero-whistleblower-tried-to-come-forward-weeks-ago-then-the-white-house-found-out" target="_blank">buried the transcript</a> of the call on the bin Laden server, helped Barr hide the Ukraine whistleblower complaint from Congress in violation of statute, and then signed off on routing the investigation of the whistleblower's concerns through the DOJ's Criminal Division, where Barr's stooge Brian Benczkowski was only to happy to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-dept-rejected-investigation-of-trump-phone-call-just-weeks-after-it-began-examining-the-matter/2019/09/25/6f7977ce-dfb5-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html" target="_blank">bury it again</a>.</p><p>And when it came to the Vindman brothers, Eisenberg was no less scummy. Yevgeny alleges in an August 18 whistleblower complaint that he went to Eisenberg on multiple occasions to bring up ethical and legal issues regarding National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien. Because that was Yevgeny's <em>actual job</em>.</p><p>In September of 2019, Yevgeny told Eisenberg that O'Brien was inappropriately accepting gifts and meals from private entities, and that he had lost his shit at NSC legal staff who pointed it out to him. Yevgeny also told Eisenberg that O'Brien was illegally using NSC staff for personal tasks, like scheduling haircuts, and also granting preferential access to business interests by mislabeling the meetings as "social calls." Eisenberg addressed the issue by instructing Yevgeny to stop attending meetings between O'Brien and private entities. </p><p>When Yevgeny went back in to say that it was unethical for O'Brien to take a taxpayer-funded trip with his wife to address his daughter's ROTC group at Brigham Young University, Eisenberg had heard enough. Can't have the guy in charge of ensuring ethical and legal compliance calling out Donald Trump's minions for ethical and legal infractions! So Yevgeny was "told that future ethics reviews involving Mr. O'Brien's engagements with private entities would be removed from his portfolio and instead vetted through the White House Counsel's Office." Nothing to see here!</p><p>But nixing the watchdog didn't magically put a stop to O'Brien's bad behavior. In January, Yevgeny reported multiple incidents of O'Brien and NSC Chief of Staff Alex Gray making inappropriate comments to female staffers.</p><blockquote>According to the complaint, LTC Y. Vindman learned, in his capacity as senior NSC ethics official, of allegations that "APNSA Robert O'Brien and NSC CoS Alex Gray engaged in demeaning and demoralizing sexist behavior against … female NSC professionals." The complaint includes specific allegations about APNSA O'Brien and CoS Gray's behavior, which, if true, are unacceptable. For instance, LTC Y. Vindman was told that "NSA [National Security Advisor] O'Brien and the CoS Gray would inappropriately comment on women's looks, 'talk down' to women and exclude women from meetings." </blockquote><p>Gross if true!</p><p>Here's the performance review Eisenberg wrote in July 2019:</p><blockquote>Yevgeny (Yev) is the epitome of an Army officer and lawyer. He is a hard-working, disciplined, tough-minded team player who manifests the Army Values. He is unremittingly honest in delivering legal advice, without concern of repercussions. Yev does the right thing and is approachable and personable. … Yev is a top 1% military attorney and officer and the best LTC with whom I have ever worked. Functioning at the executive level, he advises White House senior staff with skill, tact, and judgment on matters of geostrategic importance. Sought by White House staff regularly, he can do any job in the legal field under unusual and constant pressure and scrutiny. Select now for SSC [Senior Service College] and promote immediately to COL [Colonel]. Absolutely unlimited potential!</blockquote><p>And here's how Eisenberg described Yevgeny in April 2020, less than a year later:</p><blockquote>During the prior reporting period and early portions of the reporting period, LTC [Y.] Vindman performed his duties satisfactorily. Over time, LTC [Y.] Vindman displayed increasingly poor judgment and failed to learn from his mistakes. On multiple occasions, his unprofessional demeanor made NSC staff feel uncomfortable. Despite express guidance from his supervisor, he continued to add himself to meetings with senior NSC staff where he did not add value. LTC [Y.] Vindman's substandard performance—his lack of judgment, failure to communicate well with his superiors, and inability to differentiate between legal and policy decisions—caused him to lose the trust of NSC senior leadership. … With additional counseling and experience, LTC [Y.] Vindman's performance may improve. He would benefit from additional experience in a slower paced work environment subject to less pressure and scrutiny. In time, he may become a better attorney.</blockquote><p>Golly, what happened between July 2019 and April 2020 which might have changed Eisenberg's mind about the Vindman brothers? It's a mystery!</p><p>In fact, Yevgeny never got his promotion, and neither did Alexander. The White House <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/white-house-officials-sent-document-pentagon-criticizing-vindman-after-impeachment-n1233613" target="_blank">sent a letter</a> to the Pentagon accusing Alexander of creating a hostile work environment at the NSC, effectively torpedoing his career. They've both since retired, but the whistleblower complaint stands.</p><p>Will anything come of this besides yet another inspector general getting shitcanned if he dares to do his job? Who even knows! But John Eisenberg better hope like hell that Donald Trump gets reelected, because it's not bloody likely that a Biden administration is going to give him cover to assert some magical blanket of executive immunity to blow off a congressional subpoena.</p><p>2021 is coming, bitches. Lawyer up.</p><p>[<a href="https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20200826cbm_schiff_lynch_smith_to_odonnelldod_ig_re_vindman_retaliation.pdf" target="_blank">Letter to DOD IG</a> / <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/26/vindman-twin-accuses-nsc-officials-misconduct-402367" target="_blank">Politico</a>]</p><p><strong>Follow Liz Dye on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/5DollarFeminist" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE!</a></strong><br></p><p><strong>Please click here to support your Wonkette. And if you're ordering your quarantine goods on Amazon, <a href="https://amzn.to/2wbH77j" target="_blank">this is the link to do it.</a></strong></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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Congress
Pompeo Tells House Dems To Get F*cked, Rolls Over For Senate R's Biden Smear
Subpoenas are for little people.
August 19, 2020 12:08 PM
There are a lot of partisan hacks in the Trump administration, but for sheer brazen fuckery, no one can hold a candle to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
On Monday, he announced he was canceling an unrelated intelligence briefing for the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) to punish the committee for investigating the firing of Inspector General Steve Linick, who had been looking into eleventy-seven Pompeo scandals. Also on Monday, Pompeo's staff was ordered to expedite a records search for information on the origins of the Russia investigation to meet Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson's deadline to dump oppo on Biden and the Russia "hoax." The House Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by Democrat Eliot Engel, has issued a subpoena for the very same documents, but Pompeo told him to pound sand.
Cool, cool.
<p><em>Foreign Affairs</em> was first to <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/18/state-department-cancels-congress-briefings-tension-pompeo-lawmakers/" target="_blank">report</a> the cancelation of a scheduled briefing on the closure of American consular facilities in China and the takeover of a port city in Mozambique by Islamic militants. Clearly this falls squarely within HFAC's remit — it's the committee's IRL job to stay informed on international developments affecting the security of the United states, and it's the State Department's IRL job to do the informing.</p><p>Also within the committee's remit is investigating the abrupt dismissal of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, whom President Trump booted at Pompeo's request in May. Linick was looking into <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/mike-pompeo-and-his-many-many-scandals-a-helpful-guide-for-the-perplexed" target="_blank">multiple allegations</a> of lawbreaking by Pompeo, from forcing staff to walk his dog to illegally greenlighting arms sales to Saudi Arabia, as well as everything in between. But last week, Pompeo sent Chairman Engel a <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USSTATEBPA/2020/08/11/file_attachments/1516303/S%20to%20ELE%2008-07-20.pdf" target="_blank">ragescreed</a> accusing him of "outrageous" conduct in his investigation. If Engel's going to accuse the Department of "stonewalling," Pompeo will <em>show him</em> by refusing to cooperate with HFAC at all. On anything.</p><p>Astute observers will note that the obligation to comply with congressional subpoena has not, in the past, been conditioned on Congress asking nicely. Then-congressman Mike Pompeo accused then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of "dithering" on Benghazi and being "deeply obstructive of getting the American people the facts that they needed," despite the fact that she herself sat for eleven hours of live testimony. Back in 2015, compliance with congressional subpoena was not optional.</p><p>But now Pompeo claims an exclusive right to cancel <em>all</em> cooperation with Congress at his own discretion. <em>Foreign Affairs</em> reports:</p><blockquote>In an email response, a State Department spokesperson defended halting staff-level briefings, citing committee treatment of State Department officials who have testified in the past. "The House Foreign Affairs Committee's unwillingness to engage in the Constitutionally-mandated accommodation process has compelled multiple career and non-career Department officials to seek personal counsel at great expense," the spokesperson said. "In addition, at least one has been accused of lying before Congress without being given the opportunity to clear his name in an open hearing. The Committee's treatment of officials is not one that is limited to one 'issue area,' so the Secretary's direction with respect to engagements with the Committee is not limited by issue area."<br><br>"If the Chairman and his staff are unwilling to accept the testimony of Department officials, what is the point of sending up additional Department officials to brief his staff on any topic if their testimony won't be accepted?" the spokesperson added.</blockquote><p>Who knew that being mean to the secretary was grounds for disregarding congressional oversight!</p><p>But when it comes to the Republican-controlled Senate, the rules are ... different. Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/18/pompeo-aide-biden-russia-documents-397895" target="_blank">reports</a> that Pompeo's top aide Lisa Kenna sent a <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000174-02bb-d271-adf7-77fbcba20000" target="_blank">memo</a> to State Department staff exhorting them to get Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson the info they need for their Biden smear <em>chop chop.</em> </p><p>Johnson has hardly been subtle about what he's up to. Last week he <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/13/dems-ron-johnson-probe-trump-win-reelection-394987" target="_blank">told a rightwing talkshow host</a> that his investigations "would certainly help Donald Trump win reelection and certainly be pretty good, I would say, evidence about not voting for Vice President Biden." </p><p>And the State Department is racing to help him get that disinformation out into the electoral bloodstream before the election. <em>Politico</em> notes that, while the senators placed no date range on their request, Kenna deliberately limited the search on Ukraine to end in December 2017, ensuring that none of Trump's impeachable conduct would be caught up in the dragnet — remember, the State Department refused to cooperate with the House's impeachment inquiry citing "executive privilege." And while Grassley and Johnson specified no deadline, Kenna instructed her subordinates to finish the job by August 28, conveniently timed to accommodate Johnson's promise to get his Biden smear out in September when early voting begins.</p><p>The State Department rushed to assure Politico that this is all standard operating procedure, which is nonsense on its face. HFAC asked for the exact same materials, but Pompeo told them to get bent after weeks of sham negotiations about narrowing the scope of Engel's inquiry even after the committee issued a <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/21/eliot-engel-threatens-subpoena-mike-pompeo-hunter-biden-273379" target="_blank">subpoena</a>. In contrast, Kenna ordered the Department to do a word search of the entire database and hand over the complete results to Senate Republicans immediately in response to a simple letter. </p><p>Which brings us back to where we started, with Mike Pompeo perverting the State Department into a political tool to help Trump get elected and help his own political chances as a candidate for president in 2024. He's a fucking disgrace, and when we take back the White House, he's the first guy who should get a subpoena to appear before HFAC and the House Oversight Committee. Let him plead the Fifth if he wants, because he's not going to get any executive privilege cover once that orange excrescence exits the White House. </p><p>God willin' and the crick don't rise.</p><p>[<a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/18/state-department-cancels-congress-briefings-tension-pompeo-lawmakers/" target="_blank">Foreign Affairs</a> / <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/18/pompeo-aide-biden-russia-documents-397895" target="_blank">Politico</a>]</p><p><strong>Follow Liz Dye on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/5DollarFeminist" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE!</a></strong><br></p><p><strong>Please click here to support your Wonkette. And if you're ordering your quarantine goods on Amazon, <a href="https://amzn.to/2wbH77j" target="_blank">this is the link to do it.</a></strong></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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