Chaos in Congress

[N.E. Brigand]

George Santos's lawyer and one of his congressional aides apparently were both part of the mob trespassing at the Capitol. (There may have been as many as 20,000 people who did so.) Santos himself has not said where he was that afternoon. (He was at Trump's speech earlier on Jan. 6th.)

[N.E. Brigand]

The "weaponization" committee chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (Republican of Ohio) is apparently flouting House rules by keeping supposed* whistleblower testimony secret from House Democrats, who are supposed to be able to see all such material.

*Edited to note that Mark Zaid, an attorney who regularly represents whistleblowers, has urged people not to refer to this committee's witnesses as "alleged" (or "supposed") whistleblowers,** because regardless of whether or not they're telling the truth, they have met the technical requirements to qualify for whistleblower protections.

**Edited further to note that Mattahias Schwartz observes that the definition of whistleblower need not be limited to the legal meaning.***

***Edited one more time to note that two of today's witnesses acknowledged having received money from Kash Patel, the former Trump administration official who seems to be connected to several Trump scandals, including the ongoing classified documents matter. As someone today said: if the witnesses whose testimony led to Donald Trump's Ukraine impeachment were paid by an associate of Joe Biden, we'd never hear the end of it.

NBC reports that one of the Republican-led Committee's supposed whistleblowers, an FBI agent named Garrett O'Boyle, had been suspended by the FBI "because internal investigators had concluded that he leaked sensitive investigative information to the right-wing group Project Veritas". Furthermore, O'Boyle had testified to the committee that he had not done this, so Democrats on the Committee want the Dept. of Justice to investiate whether he lied under oath.

[Dave_LF]

We may find out later today who paid Santos's bail. For my part, I'm skeptical that the answer would prove to be as juicy as some expect, simply because a truly scandalous secret backer wouldn't be dumb enough to put their name on the record that way. Though I do have to concede that there's an awful lot of dumb going around.

[N.E. Brigand]

We may find out later today who paid Santos's bail. For my part, I'm skeptical that the answer would prove to be as juicy as some expect, simply because a truly scandalous secret backer wouldn't be dumb enough to put their name on the record that way. Though I do have to concede that there's an awful lot of dumb going around.

The names may mean nothing us but could be significant in George Santos's district, but none of us will learn them for a while, because Santos has appealed the ruling.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

A bit more detail.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm glad Adam Schiff has a sense of humor.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[N.E. Brigand]

The bizarre motion to censure and fine Rep. Adam Schiff (Democrat of California) for telling the truth was brought by the lying Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (Republican of Florida). You may recall Luna as the southern George Santos: like Rep. Santos, she is in her first term and seems to have fabricated parts of her biography. Later today, Luna apparently told Schiff that she'll bring a similar motion next week and that it will pass at that time.

If it were to pass, then the next time Democrats control the House, I would demand of my Congressperson that the House pass a motion to un-censure Schiff, reimburse him the cost of the fine plus intrest, censure Luna for having smeared Schiff, and fine Luna the same amount that she proposes to steal from Schiff: $16 million. She picked that number as being half the cost of Robert Mueller's investigation. Never mind that, if not for Donald Trump having pardoned Paul Manafort, the investigation would nearly have paid for itself via the forfeiture of Manafort's ill-gotten gains.

However, it appears that if the measure is reintroduced, a fine will no longer be included: it was on that basis that some Republicans voted against it. So Schiff may yet be censured. If so, I will demand a future Democratically-controlled House pass a measure that undoes the censure, censures Luna, and affirms that Donald Trump colluded with Russia. Which he did. That is the lie they accuse Schiff of having told. They even cite the deeply flawed Durham Report as proof! (And even that report doesn't claim all the things they say it does in their failed measure.)

[RoseMorninStar]

What a bunch of lunatics. A very poor example for the country.

[N.E. Brigand]

Yikes. I didn't realize that Luna's ridiculous motion called for Schiff to be censured and fined ... and then investigated by the Ethics Committe.

How would that work if the investigation found (as it would) that he did nothing wrong? Fine repaid with interest? Public apology and resignation by Luna?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Santos lost his appeal, but the folks who paid his bail still have until Thursday to withdraw from being "suretors".

[N.E. Brigand]

Rep. Lauren Boebert, Republican of Colorado, tonight introduced a resolution for the impeachment of President Biden. This is mainly a PR move that, if she can force a vote, will not only lose but will hurt Speaker Kevin McCarthy more than anyone else.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

N.E.B., are you advising Jamie Raskin as to how to refer to the former president?


And here is Adam Schiff responding to the latest effort to censure him.

[N.E. Brigand]

N.E.B., are you advising Jamie Raskin as to how to refer to the former president?

And here is Adam Schiff responding to the latest effort to censure him.

Ha! Hadn't seen Raskin's speech, although I just posted that video of Schiff to a different thread myself (but have now deleted it there).

I think MAGA should be pronounced "muh-guh." The first A stands for "America," and almost everyone pronounces the first syllable in America to rhyme with "dumb" not "damn."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here's the statement by the by the twice impeached inciter of insurrection sexual abuser defamer of women, and indicted pilferer of national security secrets, war plans and top secret classified documents himself that Raskin was referring to.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Meanwhile,

[N.E. Brigand]

I will be calling my Congresswoman tomorrow and asking her to introduce measures to censure every Republican who voted to censure Schiff.

Crooks, every last one of them.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Back to saga of the person known as George Santos (among other things).



And why did Santos' lawyer falsely claim that Santos would rather go to jail than reveal who paid the bond?

[Dave_LF]

It appears he would at least rather delete that tweet than reveal it