Perjury? Schiff ‘star witness’ LTC (Mister) Vindman claimed Obama shipped lethal aid to Ukraine but…it was Trump

Stantis

Whatfinger News  "(TNS) When President Donald Trump, at the urging of his national security team, agreed to provide “lethal” assistance to Ukraine in order to assist the country in its battle against Russian-backed separatists in the east, it was a significant development.

"Trump made the decision in December 2017, which was a major policy shift from the Obama administration, which regularly threatened to send lethal aid but never did. Obama drew a couple of “red lines” that he never enforced though.

"At the time of Trump’s decision, The Hill reported:

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the administration approved the sale of Model M107A1 sniper systems and associated equipment to the country at a value of $41.5 million. The administration has not yet moved to approve sales of heavier arms requested by Ukraine’s government, including Javelin anti-tank missiles.

"The move from the White House is a departure from the Obama administration, which frequently condemned Russian aggression in the Ukraine but refused to approve the sale of arms to the country’s Western-aligned government.

"So there’s that.

"Why, then, would one of Adam Schiff’s star witnesses in his secret squirrel impeachment inquiry hearings testify to the opposite?" . . .

Schiff’s Call To Invalidate A Trump Re-Election Is A Revealing Attack On Voters

In Jefferson’s inaugural address, where he famously said that “we are all republicans, we are all federalists,” he was not declaring an end partisan politics. Far from it. Instead, he was reiterating that under the Constitution, the rights of all Americans will be protected and respected, that deliberation and the political process must and will triumph under this experiment in liberty.

FreeSchool

The Federalist:Schiff’s Call To Invalidate A Trump Re-Election Is A Revealing Attack On Voters  "For all the accusations of “norm breaking” hurled at President Donald Trump, the early stages of the Senate impeachment trial have revealed that congressional Democrats are perfectly willing to flirt with toppling one of the few, and most essential, precedents in American history.
"House managers of the trial, all Democrats, cut right to the chase: If this whole impeachment thing doesn’t work out, and Trump is acquitted, it doesn’t matter. A Trump victory at the ballot box in 2020 has been preemptively deemed illegitimate.
"So says House manager Rep. Adam Schiff, arguing to impeach Trump without the accusation of an actual crime.
“The president’s misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box,” Schiff said. “For we cannot be assured that the vote will be fairly won.”
"The California Democrat, who sought impeachment before the story about Trump’s Ukraine call ever broke, accused Trump of using the power of the presidency to “cheat in an election” and again brought up the debunked Russia-collusion narrative. So, if Schiff and fellow impeachment managers can’t convince the Senate to toss Trump from office, Americans must accept the will of House Democrats and perhaps ignore the result of the next election?
"So much for being the party of upholding “norms” against the Trumpian norm-breakers. Saying that Americans should outright ignore an election result is an absurd attack on an underappreciated hallmark of American exceptionalism." . . .

3 Dem House Managers Voted “No” Against Ukraine Aid!

Steve Gruber

"Stefanik destroys Democrats by exposing that three Democrat House Managers voted "NO" against aid to Ukraine."

By Sophie O’Hara | January 24, 2020.   "Rep Stefanik came out guns blazing after another tiring round from today’s impeachment trial.
"Stefanik reflected the exasperation and frustration many Americans are feeling when she met the press afterward and proceeded to tear the Democrat’s impeachment case apart.
"But where she hit the Democrats hardest was by pointing out the biggest piece of hypocrisy yet: three Democrat House Managers voted “NO” against aid to Ukraine."
Watch the video

Jonathan Turley Says Dem Impeachment Will Go Down as “Greatest Historic Blunder”  . . . "Turley argued then that the Democrat’s case against Trump was “not just woefully inadequate, but in some respects, dangerous, as the basis for the impeachment of an American president.”
“ 'I am concerned about lowering impeachment standards to fit a paucity of evidence and an abundance of anger,” he said then. “If the House proceeds solely on the Ukrainian allegations, this impeachment would stand out among modern impeachments as the shortest proceeding, with the thinnest evidentiary record, and the narrowest grounds ever used to impeach a president.' ” . . .

Trump Legal Team Lays Out 6-Point Case Crushing Democrats’ Impeachment Claims

Daily Wire

"President Donald Trump’s legal defense team laid out an aggressive six-point case dismantling the Democrats’ impeachment case on Saturday that was simply built around highlighting the facts of what happened surrounding Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"Trump’s defense team only used two of the 24 hours that they were allotted during their first of three days that they have to argue in front of the Senate that Trump should be acquitted from the Democrats’ partisan impeachment charges.
"Laying out Trump’s six-point defense was deputy White House counsel Michael Purpura, who said the following:

1. “The transcript shows that the president did not condition either security assistance or a meeting on anything. The paused security assistance funds aren’t even mentioned on the call.”
2. “President Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have repeatedly said that there was no quid pro quo and no pressure on them to review anything.”
3. “President Zelensky and high-ranking Ukrainian officials did not even know, did not even know, the security assistance was paused until the end of August, over a month after the July 25 call.”
4. “Not a single witness testified that the President himself said that there was any connection between any investigations and security assistance, a presidential meeting, or anything else.”
5. “The security assistance flowed on September 11 and a presidential meeting took place on September 25 without the Ukrainian government announcing any investigations.”
6. “The Democrats blind drive to impeach the president does not and cannot change the fact, as attested to by the Democrats own witnesses, that President Trump has been a better friend and stronger supporter of Ukraine than his predecessor.”

“Those are the facts,” Purpura said. “Each one of these six facts standing alone is enough to sink the Democrats’ case. Combined they establish what we’ve known since the beginning, the president did absolutely nothing wrong.” . . .

Trump Soars To Highest Job Approval Rating Of Presidency Despite Impeachment Trial

After the Stillborn Impeachment Finally Is Dismissed, Trump Should Employ Greater Prudence During the Next Five Years

Extra.ie

The American Spectator
                                 No reason to give the haters anything to play with.

. . . "I wish to the dickens that Donald Trump and some of his earliest inside closest advisers had obtained the education I got. Trump is a brilliant guy, and I understand and appreciate how his mind works. He got a fabulous business education, between his Dad and his Wharton schooling. I wish only that he also had gone to law school and had been exposed to 2,000 real-life situations of mess-ups that resulted from people assuming and failing to exercise the prudence of anticipation. If he had, he would have handled the Zelensky phone call differently when he spoke with the newly elected Ukrainian president. As he would have been talking, his brilliant mind also would have been multitasking and warning him how each and every word could be manipulated and distorted by the thugs and goons who comprise Nancy Pelosi’s inner circle. There was not a thing wrong with the substance of that phone call. He is the chief executive of this country, and it is about time that we have a president who does not just fork over foreign aid without first assuring that our tax dollars will be spent as intended, not shot down a rabbit hole of foreign corruption." . . .

Trump? It’s Time to Prosecute Obama

Cartoon added by TD

The American Spectator
                      Cash payment to Iranian mullahs violated federal law.

"While Democrats are demanding the impeachment of the current president, how about prosecuting the last one?

''With the newfound concern for presidential law-breaking — and as the impeachment trial of President Trump gears up a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), saying President Trump broke the law by withholding aid to Ukraine — the precedent for effectively prosecuting alleged presidential lawbreaking has now been set.

"Which brings the focus to a prosecution of former President Barack Obama.

"Over there at National Review, way back in August of 2016, Andrew McCarthy — Andy a former federal prosecutor — headlined this:

President Obama Violated the Law with His Ransom Payment to Iran

"After acknowledging the outrage over the cash payment and the charges that Obama paid a ransom for hostages, former prosecutor McCarthy said this of the now-infamous Obama transfer of a cash payment to the Iranian mullahs:

It is a waste of time to debate that point further.…

More worth examining is why the transaction took the bizarre form that it did. To cut to the chase, I believe it was to camouflage — unsuccessfully — the commission of felony law violations.…

 Full article here.

Navy commander surrendered to Iran to protect Obama's nuclear deal

Iran Harassed The US Navy Under Obama. Here's Why It Stopped Under Trump

. . . "During Obama's presidency, Iran would charge Navy ships with fast attack craft, buzz fighter jets with drones, and even shine lasers at helicopters operating at sea.

"But the worst, most embarrassing incident occurred in January 2016, when Iran's navy seized two Navy riverine boats and the 10 sailors on board after the ship wandered into Iranian waters due to mechanical issues. They broadcast footage of the sailors, crying, in detention, on television across the country. Iran later announced plans to build a monument commemorating the event." . . .

. . . "In September of that same year, Trump addressed Iran while on the campaign trail. "When they circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats and they make gestures at our people that they shouldn't be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water," Trump said." . . .

. . . "With Trump similarly focused on optics and pledging to revitalize the U.S. military, Iran may have pivoted towards quietly pursuing its foreign policy goals, rather than making a scene that Trump could react to violently." . . .

David Limbaugh explains why the Democrats must not win

James Stansbury  "Maxine Waters (D) vowed last Sunday that Democrats "will not stop" their attempt to impeach Trump even if they fail this time.  Her latest vexation is characteristic of the Dem's unceasing insanity.  For anyone having any remaining doubt that the once respected Democratic Party of JFK is dead, I recommend David Limbaugh's latest book, Guilty by Reason of Insanity.  In it he explains "why the Democrats must not win" with 380 pages of meticulously researched evidence backed up by 80 pages of end notes.  (Included is at least one credit to American Thinker's Thomas Lifson and another for Brian C. Joondeph, a regular AT contributor.)

"It took a while to finish the book because it is too mentally fatiguing to ingest so much disturbing information except when taken in small bites spread far apart.  Below are three excerpts that provide some of his insights into what the party has become.  

"The Democratic Party is a vehicle of leftist extremism that poses an existential threat to America as founded — because it is at war with our first principles and traditions.  It is anti-capitalist and rejects equality of opportunity in favor of a hierarchy of privileges of identity groups ranked according to their alleged level of historical oppression.  It's a brazenly anti-life party that promotes gender anarchy, militant feminism, and hostility toward traditional male roles and masculinity itself.  It prosecutes a vicious culture war punctuated by an ongoing assault on Christians' religious liberty (p. 2)." . . .

. . . "Obviously, there is much more in Limbaugh's book than could possibly be summarized here, but reading it should open many eyes to truths that have been so successfully silenced in our postmodern era.

Jim Jordan Destroys Adam Schiff’s Credibility Simply By Listing His Track Record

Jay Greenberg

. . . "Speaking to reporters Wednesday, during a break in Trump's Senate impeachment trial, Jordan listed a number of things Schiff has stated with conviction that turned out to be false: 

We’re supposed to believe Adam Schiff today and everything he’s saying?This is the guy who said, ‘We have more than circumstantial evidence that there was coordination between Trump and Russia, and Russia influenced the election.’That turned out to be false.

. . . 
"Jordan continued:

Adam Schiff said that the Nunes memo was false. Michael Horowitz told us no it wasn’t; it was exactly right.Adam Schiff said you can trust the FISA court. Michael Horowitz told us last month that no, you can’t; they lied to the FISA court 17 times.Adam Schiff told us we look forward to hearing from the whistleblower.Adam Schiff said we’ve had no contact with the whistleblower.Then just yesterday, the story where he misrepresents to all of you to Chairman [Jerry] Nadler and most importantly to the White House counsel that Mr. Z is Mr. Zelensky, when in fact it was Mr. Zlochevsky.

Read more.

CBS Late Show Host: Impeach Trump Now Because ‘Three Years Is Enough’

Neon Nettle  "Stephen Colbert blasted President during show" He does that nearly every show, as he did to President Bush.

. . . "The host also blasted senators for apparently lacking the conviction of their beliefs.“Day one of the impeachment trial drew 11 million viewers. That’s a lot of people,” Colbert said. “That’s not Super Bowl ratings, but it’s at least Puppy Bowl ratings," he added."But that’s not fair to compare puppies to US Senators – the puppies still have their balls.' ” . . .

Nadler’s Folly

Matthew Continetti

Impeachment’s target audience isn’t moderate Republicans. It’s left-wing Democrats. 

"Jerry Nadler must have missed the day in law school where they teach you about persuasion. The House Democrat made a critical error early in the trial of President Trump. He didn’t just say that Republican senators, who voted to begin the proceedings without calling witnesses, were part of a cover-up. He said they had committed treason: “So far, I’m sad to say, I see a lot of senators voting for a cover-up. Voting to deny witnesses and obviously a treacherous vote. A vote against honest consideration of the evidence against the president. A vote against an honest trial. A vote against the United States.”

"Easy, tiger. All Republicans did was follow the precedent of the Clinton trial. They also admitted the House evidence into the record. The vote on witnesses will arrive next week. Hysterical accusations of national betrayal won’t win the Democrats any converts. When Trump counsel Pat Cipollone said Nadler should feel embarrassed after insulting 53 U.S. senators, Chief Justice Roberts intervened to “admonish the House managers and the president’s counsel in equal terms to remember that they are addressing the world’s greatest deliberative body.” Roberts played it safe. He rebuked both sides. Nadler, though, was the reason he intervened.

"Roberts had company. Nadler’s comments also bothered Lisa Murkowski, who said his accusation was “offensive.” Susan Collins put out a similar statement. Murkowski went further, saying she was puzzled the House didn’t go to court to force testimony from administration officials. “The House made the decision that they didn’t want to slow things down by having to go through the courts,” she said. “And yet now they’re basically saying you guys gotta go through the courts. We didn’t, but we need you to.” Why, it’s almost as if the Democrats are out for political gain rather than justice." . . .

 ‘I Think It’s Off the Table’: Schumer Shoots Down Possibility of Bolton-for-Biden Witness Swap

Updated, 1/25: Media Man Stephanopoulos Making Gesture To Cut Off Trump Lead Counsel Sekulow

"It's like the Clintons control the entire network and George is happy to be the little pawn.  With an increasingly clear string of events like this, is it any wonder the public doesn't trust the media?"  Monica Showalter

This Is What Media Bias Looks Like, Starring George Stephanopoulos
"Check the signal to cut off Trump’s attorney, likely because he’s making too much sense."
Watch at 45 seconds

Stephanopoulos Making Gesture To Cut Off Trump Lead Counsel Sekulow  "The White House posted a clip of ABC News chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos giving the throat-slash signal to cut off Trump chief counsel Jay Sekulow addressing the press Thursday."

"Before his career as a journalist, Stephanopoulos was an advisor to the Democratic Party. He rose to early prominence as a communications director for the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton and subsequently became White House communications director. He was later senior advisor for policy and strategy, before departing in December 1996. . .

Can we trust his news coverage? . . . "Based on Stephanopoulos's donations to The Clinton Foundation charity and his behavior during prior interviews and presidential debates, Republican party leaders and candidates expressed their distrust, and called for him to be banned from moderating 2016 Presidential debates, due to bias and conflict of interest.^[30][31] He agreed to drop out as a moderator of the scheduled February 2016 Republican Presidential primary debate.^[32]

In the month prior to his revelation, Stephanopoulos told Jon Stewart on The Daily Show that when money is given to the Clinton Foundation "everybody" knows there's "a hope that that's going to lead to something, and that's what you have to be careful of."^[32]

On the subject of the media: The Media Loves — And, I Mean, Really Loves — Adam Schiff  "Jonathan Adler wonders whom Adam Schiff thinks his audience is. The answer is simple: the media.
"The same people who spent years passing along every falsehood and selective leak the California congressman gave them to fuel the Russia-collusion hysteria, and the same people who still accept his allegations — knowing his long history of fabrications — without much skepticism, spent yesterday pretending that Schiff was a modern-day Cicero" . . .

Update: Stephanoupoulos caught pulling the puppet strings at ABC News?
. . . "Here's what Conservative Treehouse, which first noticed the matter, had to say about it:

During a broadcast segment on ABC news reporters in the Capitol were interviewing President Trump defense attorney Jay Sekulow.

Back in the ABC studio, Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos did not want to see ABC broadcasting statements from the defense and he is caught on camera using hand signals to tell the producers to cut-off the broadcast.   Stephanopoulos realized he was caught:

"It's far from the only evidence out there that something is going on.

"Here's another one where some hidden producer, probably speaking into her earphone, seemed to be whispering into Alisyn Camerota's ear to shut it down as she spoke of public opposition to impeachment based on President Trump's stellar record:"  Video here

. . . "It gets worse. Here's more evidence pointing to Stephanopoulos calling the shots from last November. I wrote about that here:" . . .

Tony Branco
.....
Updated: Stephanoupoulos caught pulling the puppet strings at ABC News?

Why Isn’t Greta Sailing To China To Whine At President Xi?

Noticeably absent from Ms. Thunberg’s Davos screed was any country other than America. Sure, she blasted America from withdrawing from the Gospel of the Paris Climate Accord. But there was no mention of the world’s largest polluter of poisonous Sulphur Dioxide: China, India, and Russia. China emits more carbon dioxide than the US and the EU combined. China and India are also world leaders in ocean pollution, dumping plastics directly into the waterways.

Dianny

Daily Caller  "Children should be seen and not heard.

     "That used to be common philosophy. Anti-child? Full of contempt and bitterness? No. Ageist? Threatened by a younger generation? No. Children are ignorant.

     "Not stupid. No, children are not intrinsically stupid. Besides, there are plenty of stupid adults. Anyone watching the impeachment proceedings? But children are without knowledge, that is, have not gained knowledge. Why? Because they are… children. Knowledge must be acquired, and that requires time.
     "The annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, once again hosted young climate activists spewing their ignorance. Their leader, Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” teenage eco-warrior Greta Thunberg shouted that “our house is on fire.”
     "Is it?
     "Noticeably absent from Ms. Thunberg’s Davos screed was any country other than America. Sure, she blasted America from withdrawing from the Gospel of the Paris Climate Accord. But there was no mention of the world’s largest polluter of poisonous Sulphur Dioxide: China, India, and Russia. China emits more carbon dioxide than the US and the EU combined. China and India are also world leaders in ocean pollution, dumping plastics directly into the waterways.     "How cozy to blast America in neutral Switzerland about the pollution caused by China. Makes one want to compose a folksong.     "Look, I mean Ms. Thunberg no ill will. But the feeling is not mutual. When she makes her list of demands that we stop burning fossil fuels immediately, I think it’s fair to ask her “who should die first?” Because people will die. Look at developing nations. The leading cause of death among children is malnutrition and diarrhea. Fossil fuels could fix that.  They not only help sow, irrigate, and harvest crops, they also fertilize and transport them. Refrigeration keeps perishable foods from spoiling. Transportation delivers it quickly. Fossil fuels help sustain life." . . .

Daniel Turner is the founder and executive director of Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. Contact him at daniel@powerthefuture.com and follow him on Twitter @DanielTurnerPTF.