Why Lev Parnas Won’t Be Attending The Impeachment Hearings
He’s released on bail with a Ankle Monitor as a flight risk (to be fair he was nailed at the Airport fleeing the country) awaiting trial for his FELONY! which he committed in conspiracy with Rudy Guiliani and Unindicted Co-conspirator Bottomless Pinocchio.
Schumer gave him a golden ticket.
Unfortunately they are screening for electronic devices and it’s unclear if he’ll be granted admittance to the Gallery.
Lev Parnas will march to the Capitol on Wednesday to ‘watch the trial and speak out for witnesses’: attorney
By Bob Brigham, Raw Story
January 28, 2020
There will be extra excitement at President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial on Wednesday as indicted Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas is expected to attempt to attend the trial.
Parnas’s attorney, Joseph Bondy, asked for people to join them as they walk the half-a-mile from Union Station to the Capitol.
“Join Lev Parnas and the legal team tomorrow at 11:15 am, as we walk from Union Station to the Capitol, to watch the trial and speak out for witnesses and evidence,” Bondy posted on Twitter.
Bondy has been pushing a “Let Lev Speak” message on Twitter.
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Earlier on Tuesday, The Daily Beast reported that Bondy had received tickets to view the trial from the gallery from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).However, it is unknown whether Parnas will be allowed to view the trial.
Senate rules bar electronic devices and Lev Parnas wears an ankle monitor as part of his bail agreement with prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.
The Daily Beast article is a little bit wrong about what’s going to happen today. This is the first of two eight hour days of written questions by Senators, read by the Chief Justice, with eight hours allotted to each side (directed at the House Managers and Attorneys alternating between sides as long as questions remain on either, with responses encouraged to limit themselves to no more than 5 minutes even if the reading the question takes longer) so if the Republicans are smart they’ll just sit down and shut up and this will all be over in a day.
Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen either
What may happen is another Republican “Extend and Pretend” as Moscow Mitch admits he doesn’t have the votes to simply shut things down against the wishes of 70% of the people.
So he’s going to slow things down until he can find them.
McConnell tells senators he doesn’t yet have votes to block witnesses in Trump impeachment trial
By Erica Werner, Seung Min Kim, and Rachael Bade, Washington Post
Jan. 28, 2020
In a closed-door meeting after closing remarks, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told colleagues he doesn’t have the votes to block witnesses, according to people familiar with his remarks who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe them. Just four GOP senators would have to join with Democrats to produce the majority needed to call witnesses — an outcome McConnell has sought to avoid since it could invite new controversy and draw out the divisive proceedings.
An initial vote to allow witnesses, expected Friday, does not ensure witnesses would actually be called, since the Senate would have to subsequently hold separate votes on summoning each individual witness. And Trump’s ultimate acquittal still remains all but assured, since a two-thirds vote in the GOP-run Senate would be required to remove him.
But the debate over witnesses has roiled the Senate since the emergence of revelations Sunday in an unpublished book manuscript written by former national security adviser John Bolton. In the book, Bolton recounts a conversation with Trump in which the president described wanting to withhold military assistance from Ukraine until Kyiv announced investigations into some of Trump’s political rivals.
That would make Bolton the first official to provide a firsthand account of the alleged quid pro quo at the heart of House Democrats’ abuse-of-power charge against the president, one of the two articles of impeachment the House approved in December. The other charged Trump with obstruction of Congress.
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Since the Bolton revelations emerged, a handful of Senate GOP moderates have indicated a desire to hear from him. But foreshadowing disputes to come, many other Republican lawmakers disagree or say that they would allow testimony from Bolton only if they could also call witnesses they favor, such as Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company when his father was President Barack Obama’s vice president.“All I can say, is I don’t need any more evidence, but if we do call witnesses, we’re not just gonna call one witness. We’re gonna call a bunch of witnesses,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.).
Democrats strongly oppose calling either of the Bidens or agreeing to any witness “trade,” as suggested by some Republicans. Other plans floated by GOP senators have drawn similar Democratic resistance, including the idea of getting the White House to release Bolton’s manuscript for senators to review. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called that proposal “absurd.”
Even before the vote on witnesses occurs, the Senate will spend 16 hours over Wednesday and Thursday engaged in what could be a revealing question-and-answer period, modeled on a procedure followed during the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton. The senators, who have been forced to remain silently in their seats throughout the eight-day trial, will be able to ask questions of the White House defense team or the House impeachment managers. The questions will have to be submitted in writing and will be read aloud by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who is presiding over the trial.
The questions are likely to run the gamut from factual queries to potentially direct challenges aimed at lawyers on either side.
Democrats intend to ask questions about the revelations from Bolton, which White House attorney Jay Sekulow attacked on the Senate floor Tuesday. Without directly disputing Bolton’s claims, Sekulow read statements from Trump, the Justice Department, and a top aide to Vice President Pence denying or disputing them.
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Trump’s team wrapped up its opening arguments, having used about 11 of its allotted 24 hours. House Democrats used about 23 hours in presenting their case last week.
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Senate Republicans huddled in a meeting room debating the issue of witnesses. Although McConnell told colleagues he didn’t yet have the votes to defeat the initial witness vote, leaders feel they’re making progress toward that goal, according to officials familiar with the discussion.Several Republican senators up for reelection this November and facing tough campaigns — including Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — indicated during the meeting that they were ready to vote against witnesses and proceed to the final vote, according to two people familiar with the discussion who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private meeting.
But in a sign of the turmoil and internal dissent produced by the issue, Republicans floated a variety of ideas, including a suggestion from Graham and Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) that the White House turn over the unpublished manuscript of Bolton’s book so senators can read it and assess the need to hear from the former Trump official.
One Republican encouraged Bolton to tell his story publicly, either in a congressional hearing or a media interview. “ ‘John, if you’ve got something to say, I’d rather have you say it sooner rather than later,’ ” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Tuesday, recalling what he said to Bolton in a discussion several weeks ago. Bolton answered by saying he would respond only to a Senate subpoena, Johnson said.
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The finale to Tuesday’s proceedings came so quickly that it took some senators by surprise. After a short break in the early afternoon, Cipollone announced he would be brief, but some senators missed the announcement as they were still returning from their restroom breaks, and many huddled in their respective cloakrooms, grabbing one last glimpse of their cellphones or a quick drink of coffee.Less than 10 minutes later, as Cipollone closed his binder and announced the defense complete, senators gasped. “Oh my,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) could be heard saying.
The defense rested at 2:54 p.m.
Hearing witnesses would assist in finding the truth but that’s not what Republicans want because the truth is that Unindicted Co-conspirator Bottomless Pinocchio led a Criminal Conspiracy with his top Officials, Pence, Pompeo, Barr, Perry, and his Bagman Guiliani to Bribe and Extort Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukranian Sovereign Government in return for illegal interference in United States elections that personally benefited UCcBP.
Idiotic literalist text searching does not change the truth or the meaning of words.
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