Devin Nunes appeared on Tucker Carlson to discuss the impeachment events of the day.  However, thankfully they also discussed the revelation that HPSCI Chairman Adam Schiff randomly started issuing subpoenas for telephone information.  That’s the part I find very troubling.  Notice how the media simply ignores it?  This is a pretty big damn deal.
Under what authority can congress arbitrarily send subpoenas for the private phone records of citizens, journalists, and fellow politicians?  Can Nunes now start sending subpoenas for the phone records of Michael Isikoff around the time of the Flynn phone call leak?… and can congress publish those call records as a part of some possibly inquiry into the leak… and we can cross reference to identify the FBI leaker?….

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Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor and not a supporter of President Trump, warned House lawmakers today against impeaching a President without merit. Mr. Turley said that to impeach Trump based on the current evidence “would be to expose every future president to the same type of inchoate impeachment.”
[Opening Remarks Below]

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[Transcript] Chairman Nadler, ranking member Collins, members of the Judiciary Committee, my name is Jonathan Turley, and I am a law professor at George Washington University where I hold the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Chair of Public Interest Law.
It is an honor to appear before you today to discuss one of the most solemn and important constitutional functions bestowed on this House by the Framers of our Constitution: the impeachment of the President of the United States.
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The republican leadership from the U.S. House of Representatives held a press conference today as a rebuttal to the democrat impeachment inquiry report.  House Judiciary Committee ranking member Doug Collins joined GOP leadership to discuss the significant issues with the impeachment process.  WATCH:

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Everything We The People ever needed to know about media bias is completely visible at the end of the press conference.  Few DC media attended.  Apparently the republican rebuttal message is antithetical to the DC media objective.
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In the second bilateral NATO meeting of the day, U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hold a joint press availability.
Unfortunately for U.S-Canada relations, at the conclusion of their bilat Trudeau went to a NATO reception at No. 10 Downing Street and was caught on mic disparaging President Trump with French President Emmanuel Macron. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much, everybody. A question was asked just a little while ago about supporting the people protesting in Iran and are going through a very tough period. And we do support them totally and have supported them from the beginning.
The question was asked: “Do we support them” — I thought — “financially?” And we haven’t supported them. I don’t know that we’ve ever been actually asked to support them, financially. And I — you know, if somebody asked, maybe we would. But we support them very, very seriously. The people that are protesting in Iran, they’re looking for their freedom, and we are fully in support of them.
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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appeared on CNBC earlier today to discuss the status of U.S-China trade discussions, the latest issues with tariffs on French goods, and the bigger picture issues within the EU that we previously discussed.
Ross highlights the additional tariffs on China scheduled for December 15th are currently still planned to take effect unless something substantial changes in the position of China.  Additionally, and interestingly on the French and EU tariffs, Secretary Ross reminds the financial pundits of the $7.5 billion WTO authorized award against the EU that would be in addition to the $2.4 billion in tariffs now scheduled for French products.

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Pay attention to what Ross says in that interview; the administration is being remarkably open and consistent.  Given the adversarial position exhibited by French President Emmanuel Macron today; and against the backdrop of continual EU intransigence on trade reciprocity; I suspect once the USMCA is passed we are going to see a *severe* shift in tone within the U.S. trade position toward both China and the EU.
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AT&T provided the call records, likely under subpoena. (link)

Let’s hope Schiff received them under subpoena, because the alternative is much worse. The alternative is a criminal leak from an outside interest.
There’s a particular type of anger that surfaces when you realize the Schiff team who coordinated the origination effort with the CIA whistleblower; and then vehemently hide their coordination; are the same crew simultaneously using the power of their position to subpoena private phone call records from President Trump’s lawyers, members of congress, and journalists.  [See Schiff Report pages 157, 158, 159 – pdf]

Yes, in essence Adam Schiff weaponized his committee authority toward the goal of removing President Trump in an identical way the prior administration intelligence officials, DOJ and FBI weaponized their authority toward removing candidate Trump, president-elect Trump and President Trump.
It is one long continuum of political corruption, weaponization, and fabrication of evidence to achieve a political objective.  It is also disgusting in construct.
This crew doesn’t care one bit how much they have to destroy this country, so long as they can advance a left-wing political agenda based on an unquenchable thirst for power.  I never thought we would see the possibility of a hot civil war in my lifetime.  I was wrong.
The cattle cars are on the horizon, and the full Schiff report pdf is below.
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A Washington Post spin article attempts to defend the DOJ/FBI “small group” 2016 campaign effort by claiming vindication from IG Horowitz and U.S. AG Barr not accepting the finding.   But not so fast…
Before getting to the WaPo narrative construction a little background review is worthwhile; starting with the original investigative purpose of the IG review.  The Horowitz review was initiated to look into how the DOJ and FBI secured a Title-1 FISA surveillance warrant against U.S. person Carter Page:
IG Horowitz was never investigating the predicate claims that initiated the CIA/FBI operation known as “Crossfire Hurricane”.  So how exactly would AG Barr and IG Horowitz be diverging on an aspect to a predicate that Horowitz was never reviewing?
Additionally, IG Horowitz was never tasked or empowered to interview CIA officers who are known to have been at the heart of the pre-July 2016 operation.  Horowitz was/is focused on the DOJ and FBI compliance with legal requirements for the FISA application that was assembled for use in October 2016, and renewed throughout 2017.
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It has always been a nonsense claim that Russia “interfered” with the 2016 U.S. election.  The political James Clapper and James Brennan construct of the ICA therein was the thin gruel that provided cover for the media to continue making the claim.
Congressman Jim Jordan outlines why democrats must maintain this illusion if they are to retain the public premise:

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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler has announced the four selected representatives for the committee “groundwork” hearing on political impeachment.
The hearing takes place Wednesday, December 4th at 10:00am EST and includes:

• Noah Feldman – Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law and Director, Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law, Harvard Law School
• Pamela S. Karlan – Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and Co-Director, Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Stanford Law School
• Michael Gerhardt – Burton Craige Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence, The University of North Carolina School of Law
• Jonathan Turley – J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law, The George Washington University Law School

 

In advance of the Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler and Lawfare Committee releasing a highly partisan HPSCI report to facilitate a political impeachment effort, the House republicans have provided a proactive 123 page rebuttal report [pdf link here] the media will ignore.
A good encapsulation paragraph within the executive summary: “The Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is not the organic outgrowth of serious misconduct; it is an orchestrated campaign to upend our political system. The Democrats are trying to impeach a duly elected President based on the accusations and assumptions of unelected bureaucrats who disagreed with President Trump’s policy initiatives and processes. They are trying to impeach President Trump because some unelected bureaucrats were discomforted by an elected President’s telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. They are trying to impeach President Trump because some unelected bureaucrats chafed at an elected President’s “outside the beltway” approach to diplomacy.”

[link to House pdf version of report]

1. President Trump has a deep-seated, genuine, and reasonable skepticism of Ukraine due to its history of pervasive corruption.
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