by AM | Dec 5, 2023 | Aggregate
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced at a press conference on Tuesday that he plans to hold a vote next week on launching a formal impeachment inquiry of Joe Biden. The move comes in response to White House stonewalling the preliminary impeachment investigation launched by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in September. As Jim Hoft noted on Monday at TGP, the House is running out of time to vote on impeaching Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas before a month long break for the holidays.
Johnson explained his rationale for having a floor vote on an impeachment inquiry of Biden at a press conference Tuesday:
“So, we have come to this sort of inflection point, because Chad (Pergram) right now the White House is um, is, is stonewalling that investigation. They’re refusing to turn over key witnesses to allow them to testify as they’ve been subpoenaed. They’re refusing to turn over thousands of documents from the National Archives. And the House has no choice: If it’s gonna follow his constitutional responsibility to formally adopt an impeachment inquiry on the floor, so that when the subpoenas are challenged in court, we’ll be at the apex of our constitutional authority. It will be a movement, uh, of, a vote of the full House and that will let us to continue and continue on on pace. This vote is not a vote to impeach President Biden. This is a vote to continue the inquiry of impeachment, and that’s a necessary constitutional step and I believe we’ll get every vote that we (need).”
Excerpt transcribed by TGP.
.@SpeakerJohnson (R-LA): “The House has no choice, if it’s going to follow its constitutional responsibility, to formally adopt an impeachment inquiry on the floor so that when the subpoenas are challenged in court, we’ll be at the apex of our constitutional authority.” pic.twitter.com/PWjBydib8U
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 5, 2023
In September, lacking GOP votes for a formal inquiry, McCarthy established an impeachment inquiry of Biden without a vote of the House, invoking a precedent set by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for impeaching President Trump. Three House committees were appointed by McCarthy to head the impeachment inquiry: Judiciary, Oversight and Ways & Means. Those committees have continued their impeachment inquiry under Speaker Johnson. However the White House is refusing to cooperate because the inquiry was not authorized by a vote of the House.
The three impeachment committees released an interim report on Tuesday about preferential treatment shown first son Hunter Boden by the Justice department and Special Counsel David Weiss:
🚨#NEWS: @GOPoversight, @WaysandMeansGOP, and @JudiciaryGOP Release Report Revealing David Weiss and DOJ’s Preferential Treatment of Hunter Biden
Read it here: https://t.co/iUEY39CfzE
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) December 5, 2023
A handful of moderate Republicans have been reluctant to vote for a Biden impeachment inquiry. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that those members were confronted by constituents over the recent Thanksgiving break who were demanding they vote to impeach Biden. Apparently, enough of those members have changed their minds for Speaker Johnson to set a vote next week.
James Comer tells Maria Bartiromo that moderate House Republicans are more willing to to vote for a Biden impeachment inquiry now because they went home over Thanksgiving and heard from their constituents at Walmart pic.twitter.com/gavFiabw0Y
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 3, 2023
CNN’s Manu Rahu confirmed the change of heart, “House GOP leaders announce they will have a vote next week to authorize their impeachment inquiry into Biden. Several members from swing districts indicating they will vote YES for inquiry but not sold on backing articles of impeachment”
House GOP leaders announce they will have a vote next week to authorize their impeachment inquiry into Biden. Several members from swing districts indicating they will vote YES for inquiry but not sold on backing articles of impeachment
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 5, 2023
There is a small chance the vote could take place this week, according to a report by NBC News, but that is not likely (excerpt):
Republican leaders said Tuesday the House will likely vote to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden next week — the last week the chamber is scheduled to be in session before lawmakers leave for the holidays.
There was a small possibility the vote could take place this week, but Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., both said the vote — if it happens — would occur “next week” as the leaders left a closed-door meeting of House Republicans.
With the expulsion of former rep. George Santos (R-NY) last week, Republicans have an even tighter majority over the Democrats, 221 to 213, and could only spare three votes.
Complete remarks by Speaker Johnson at Tuesday’s presser:
The post Speaker Johnson Announces Biden Impeachment Inquiry Vote to Be Held Next Week appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
by AM | Dec 5, 2023 | Aggregate
Special Counsel Jack Smith is now seeking to introduce evidence against Trump that isn’t even charged in the indictment.
In September Trump was hit with 4 counts in Jack Smith’s January 6 case up in DC: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
Jack Smith asked Judge Tanya Chutkan to allow his prosecutors to tell DC jurors about Trump’s statements on prior elections.
Government prosecutors said Trump’s previous, First Amendment-protected statements claiming the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections were stolen are part of a pattern and led to an effort to ‘overturn’ the 2020 election.
“They demonstrate the defendant’s common plan of falsely blaming fraud for election results he does not like,” the special counsel’s prosecutor wrote in a 9-page filing.
Only Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are allowed to claim the 2016 election was stolen.
Jack Smith’s prosecutors also want to tell jurors that Trump’s statements defending jailed J6 protestors and vowing to pardon them are proof he incited a riot.
“This evidence shows that the rioters’ disruption of the certification proceeding is exactly what the defendant intended on January 6,” Jack Smith’s prosecutor wrote, according to Politico.
Excerpt from far-left Politico:
Special counsel Jack Smith wants a Washington, D.C. jury to hear about Donald Trump’s efforts to sow false doubts about the two presidential elections that preceded his failed 2020 campaign.
The special counsel’s team says Trump’s previous attempts to convince Americans that the elections of 2012 and 2016 were being stolen laid the foundation for what would become a criminal effort to overturn the 2020 election after his loss to Joe Biden.
Smith is seeking permission from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to introduce evidence that isn’t specifically charged in the criminal indictment but may be relevant to the jury’s consideration of the alleged crimes. These details, known as 404(b) evidence, are commonly introduced in criminal matters to aid the jury’s ability to consider a defendant’s intent or motive based on uncharged “bad acts.” In this case, Smith says the evidence will help jurors assess Trump’s intent during the frenzied weeks before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, as he sought to subvert the election.
The post JUST IN: Jack Smith Seeks to Introduce Evidence Against Trump That Isn’t Charged in Indictment appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
by AM | Dec 5, 2023 | Aggregate
After the failed summer counteroffensive petered and Russian forces regained the initiative along the whole extension of the frontline, the situation in Ukraine has started to unravel in many ways.
The faltering foreign military aid issue has made the rounds as headlines detail how the US and the EU are struggling to keep up the delivery pace.
Read: Ukraine’s Zelensky Tries to Rally the Fading Support for His Military Effort – General Zaluzhny: Lack of Success Consequence of Modern Tech in Warfare
Also, we see how the world’s attention has shifted to the Middle East conflict, diverting the resources without which a rapid Russian victory is all but inevitable.
Add to that the absolute lack of manpower and the unsuccessful conscription drives, and you start to see a grim picture.
But the undeclared Ukrainian civil war between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Commander in Chief General Valery Zaluzhny is another major problem that is only now hitting the MSM’s spotlight – although we have been talking about it here in TGP for months.
Read: Tension in Kiev: Zelensky Publicly Criticizes Commander-In-Chief Zaluzhny for Stating That the War Is ‘In a Stalemate’, Fires His Top Deputy
The long-running spat between Zelensky and Zaluzhny is breaking into public view as Ukraine faces another difficult winter of Russian bombardment, trying to shore up financial and military support and dismissing increasing demands for peace talks with Moscow.
In the context of things, this gift of a pistol for the General takes a whole new meaning.
Newsweek reported:
“And now, the president’s office is at odds with General Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces who has become a well-known and highly respected figure in Western military and diplomatic circles. More importantly, the ‘iron general’ has become an icon among Ukrainians. […] One source with knowledge of the situation […] said the president’s office sees signs of Zaluzhny transitioning into a political actor, a role they consider inappropriate in the midst of an existential war.”
The imminent dismissal of Zaluzhny is unlikely because that would boost his political profile.
Power behind the throne? Yermak is Zelensky’s grey eminence.
The falling out is a reflection of the political ambitions of Andrey Yermak, Zelensky’s grey eminence and head of the presidential office.
The canceled 2024 presidential election still hangs in the air, and as far as potential challengers go, Zaluzhny is much higher in the polls than the president.
In November, Zaluzhny made global headlines in an article that characterized the front-line situation as a ‘stalemate’, an assertion bitterly disputed by Zelensky but eventually, now accepted by all.
“Zelensky is now ‘two steps away from dismissing Zaluzhnyi’, Ivan Stupak — a former officer in the Security Service of Ukraine and now an adviser to the Ukrainian parliament’s national security, defense and intelligence committee — told Newsweek. ‘The president tries not to talk with Zaluzhny at all anymore. Zelensky is conducting some very brief meetings with highly ranked military officials, but without the presence of Zaluzhny. […] That’s because of jealousy. In the previous period when Ukraine gained some success on the battlefield, this tension was not on the surface. It was deep inside. But now in December when everything is going wrong — about Western support, about the counteroffensive, it’s not going as planned. So, tensions have risen to the surface’.”
Once again, in a marked departure from earlier in the war, many Ukrainian sources with ‘knowledge of discussions in the president’s office’ are ‘talking out of school’ and spilling the secrets.
“‘Zelensky has been fighting literally every possible future competitor in the elections that will happen, sooner or later’, the source added. ‘This is something that is going to drag our country down… The office will say that it’s Zaluzhny who is guilty for the fact that we have not returned the lands, but this is just pathological populism. […] Zaluzhnyi was the one who stood for the fight when Zelensky had doubts and was actually ready to compromise in April’, they added.”
Time to Say Good-Bye, Volodymyr: Ukrainians Sick of War – Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko Supports General Zaluzhny over Zelensky
Also, Newsweek makes a point of repeating Andrey Yermak, who has amassed massive influence as Zelensky’s right-hand man, is central to the dispute with Zaluzhny.
“‘Andrey Yermak was playing a big role here’, one source with knowledge of the situation said. ‘Yermak obviously had intentions to change Zaluzhnyi for another more loyal person, or less popular.”
‘He is the man who is trying to rule everything, but using the hands of the president’, Stupak said. ‘He’s the first person who the president sees in the morning and the last person the president sees in the evening. They spend lots of time together, so it’s very likely that Yermak is driving some changes’.”
Read: MSM Lifts the Veil on the Undeclared Ukrainian Civil War Between President Zelensky and General Zaluzhny
Ukrayinska Pravda reported:
“Sources close to Ukrainska Pravda claim that Supreme Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy communicates with some commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, avoiding Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi and preventing him from holding overall command of the army.
Quote from a source from Zaluzhnyi’s inner circle: “You see, sometimes there is an impression that Zelenskyy has two types of the Armed Forces: the ‘good ones’, commanded by Syrskyi and other favourites, and ‘bad ones’, which are subordinate to Zaluzhnyi. It is very demotivating for the Commander-in-Chief and, most crucially, it prevents him from commanding the entire army.”
Details: It is claimed that Zelenskyy in fact established parallel channels for communication, avoiding Zaluzhnyi, with the commanders of different branches of the army. For instance, with Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk and Ground Force Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Direct communication with commanders accelerates the president’s work, but it also ousts the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, who gets some information from his formal subordinates, if any at all.”
Read more:
Time to Say Good-Bye, Volodymyr: Ukrainians Sick of War – Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko Supports General Zaluzhny over Zelensky
The post Zelensky Versus Zaluzhny: The Infighting Worsens as the President Gives Orders Directly to Battlefield, Bypassing the General That Is Polling Much Higher Than Him appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
by AM | Dec 5, 2023 | Aggregate
The House Judiciary Committee led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) has launched a congressional inquiry into Fani Willis for colluding with the January 6 Committee.
Jordan and Loudermilk learned Tuesday that Willis’ office coordinated its investigative actions with the partisan Select Committee.
#BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan and @RepLoudermilk Launch Inquiry into Fani Willis Colluding with the January 6 Committee.
We have learned that Willis’s office coordinated its investigative actions with the partisan Select Committee.
DA Fani Willis: https://t.co/J3VqWmz6vQ
…
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) December 5, 2023
To prove their case, they released a damning letter showing coordination between Willis and Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS).
READ:
As Gateway Pundit readers know, Willis hit President Trump and 18 others with RICO and conspiracy charges for daring to challenge the 2020 election. A Fulton County grand jury in August returned a 41-count indictment, which included RICO and conspiracy charges against Trump.
As TGP’s Cristina Laila notes, Willis began her investigation into Trump in February 2021. Yet, she waited until the 2024 election season was in full swing to charge the former president and current leading GOP candidate. They even tried to humiliate Trump by making him pose for a mugshot.
Back in August, Laila also revealed Jordan launched an investigation into whether Willis coordinated with federal officials during her years-long witch-hunt into Trump and his associates.
Now, she has been caught coordinating with officials in Washington and almost certainly colluded with the Committee Chairman.
Willis may be in some hot water. Let’s see if Congress has the guts to follow through in total.
The post House Judiciary Committee Launches Inquiry Into Fani Willis for Colluding with January 6 Committee – Releases Damning Letter Between Her and J6 Chairman Bennie Thompson appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
by AM | Dec 5, 2023 | Aggregate
Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said GOP Rep. Richard McCormick got physically aggressive with her following an argument over a resolution to censure Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
Last month Marjorie Taylor Greene reintroduced her resolution to censure Representative Rashida Tlaib after the first attempt failed.
This comes after Rashida Tlaib called for genocide of the Israeli Jews on Twitter one day after surviving her censure vote.
Last month Greene called out the 23 Republicans who voted no to censure Tlaib.
“Hopefully the 23 Republicans who voted no to censure Pro-terrorists Pro-Hamas Anti-Israel anti-Semitic Rashida Tlaib will use their freedom of speech in congress to censure (condemn) Terrorist Tlaib’s speech, lies, and actions that incited an illegal occupation on Oct 18th,” MTG said last month.
According to CNN, Rep. McCormick grabbed Marjorie Taylor Greene’s shoulders and shook her after an argument over the Tlaib censure vote.
McCormick told CNN that he meant it as a ‘friendly gesture.’
“I understand why there would be a lot of raw emotions following the censure vote given that her censure was tabled and mine passed. My intention was to encourage Rep. Greene by making a friendly gesture,” Rep. Richard McCormick said in a statement to CNN. “I said to her, ‘at least we can have an honest discussion,’ to which she said she did not appreciate that. For that I immediately apologized and have not spoken to her since.”
CNN reported:
In a private meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson last week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accused fellow Georgia Republican Rep. Richard McCormick of getting physically aggressive with her, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter – a charge that McCormick has denied, saying it was a “friendly gesture.”
Greene claimed to Johnson that McCormick grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her following a public spat they had over competing resolutions to censure Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the sources said, and asked the speaker to address the issue. McCormick voted against Greene’s censure resolution and then introduced his own, more narrow version – which prompted Greene to say to reporters at the time that McCormick had his “ego bruised.” She also publicly bashed other Republicans who voted against her resolution.
In a statement provided to CNN, McCormick said the interaction was intended to be friendly, but he apologized to the congresswoman in the moment after realizing she did not receive it that way.
The post Marjorie Taylor Greene Claims Male GOP Lawmaker Got Physically Aggressive, Grabbed Her Shoulders and Shook Her appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
