Yesterday was Sally Yates’ big day. Yates was the acting attorney general for the last days of the Obama administration and the first days of the Trump administration. She was a career DOJ lawyer. The Trump administration fired her, they said initially, because she refused to enforce Trump’s Muslim Ban executive order. While that probably was a factor, Yates was also ringing the alarm at DOJ and the White House about Mike Flynn, Trump’s now-ousted National Security Adviser. Flynn was the guy who was in bed with the Russians, to the point where Yates believed he was lying to everyone and he was “compromised” to the point where he could be (and perhaps was) a target for blackmail. After Yates was fired, Emperor Baby Fists ended up accepting Flynn’s resignation. At the time, it was said that Flynn resigned just because he lied to VP Mike Pence.
Yates was supposed to testify in March but her testimony was canceled – suspiciously – by Rep. Devin Nunes, who… yeah, was and is an extremely shady figure. Finally, she got to speak publicly yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. #SallyYates trended on Twitter throughout the day and evening, and I know a lot of people were glued to her testimony. I don’t blame you – Yates is an enchanting figure. She has a soft Georgia accent, she knows her way around the law, and she’s absolutely a patriot.
Anyway, I’m not going to do extensive coverage of her testimony, suffice to say that Yates repeatedly had to refuse to answer many questions about Flynn by citing “classified information.” What she could say and did say repeatedly though was that Flynn lied to several people in the White House and “the Russians also knew” Flynn was lying and “to state the obvious, you don’t want your national security adviser compromised by the Russians.” You can read a full transcript of Yates’ testimony here. She also had to answer questions (from Republicans) about leaking information to journalists, and Republicans tried to paint her as a political hack because she knew Trump’s Muslim Ban was unconstitutional. Which led to this amazing exchange between Yates and Zodiac Killer Ted Cruz:
Yates to Cruz- We were talking religious freedom, "not the interpretation of some arcane statute." pic.twitter.com/ZUJphOs1aC
— Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) May 8, 2017
Throughout the day, Emperor Baby Fists was tweeting about Yates. First, he threatened her:
Ask Sally Yates, under oath, if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to W.H. Counsel.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2017
Then he tweeted this after her testimony:
Director Clapper reiterated what everybody, including the fake media already knows- there is "no evidence" of collusion w/ Russia and Trump.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2017
Sally Yates made the fake media extremely unhappy today — she said nothing but old news!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2017
The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2017
Biggest story today between Clapper & Yates is on surveillance. Why doesn't the media report on this? #FakeNews!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2017
Yes, when WILL this taxpayer funded charade end?
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Yea pretty sure trump broke the law with those tweets and then broke another by deleting said tweets. Amazing what these people are getting away with.
Yates completely ran circles around these idiots with knowledge and facts. To the point where most republicans left before the hearing was over. It’s like they can feel the walls caving in. Wonderful
He also sent those tweets out on the POTUS handle so, yes, broke public records law with deletions and attempting to interfere with a congressional investigation.
And yet nothing will be done to call out this behavior or correct it. It’s amazing the s–t this idiot gets away with. He’s allowed to break and flaunt the law like no one else. No wonder he thinks he’s a dicatator in chief.
I’d the reason why no one is doing anything about this law breaking because the Republicans are in charge of everything…? And so long as it’s a Republican they will continue to let it slide? HOW IS THAT ALLOWED!!??
Jason Chaffetz is too busy trying to devise new ways to waste our tax dollars investigating Hillary Clinton to worry about Trump’s treason. It wasn’t always this way. Republicans turned against Nixon.
I think the GOP has proven they care about party > country
President Tweeter probably doesn’t realize people are archiving and taking screenshots of his original tweets, so the record doesn’t disappear. Just like he seems oblivious to the fact that we have him on video and audio routinely contradicting himself.
It’s almost like no one has any idea what is going on and what they should and shouldn’t be doing…
Even though they had 8 f*cking years to prepare to “take back the country” and make America great again, to repair the horrific damage done by the simple fact that we had a black president. And now that they’re up to bat… they choke. It would be laughable if we weren’t all going to die.
Shambles, nothing, not even 8 years, can prepare you for the consequences of a deal with the devil. This is some crazy sh*t and to think a few years ago we were all laughing at various leaders from, for example, African countries because of their seemingly insane displays. I mean HOW can these people elect crazy men who of course turned into dictators??? How? … Ugh.
“Yates completely ran circles around these idiots with knowledge and facts.”
they tried to make her look like a “dumb girl” and she SCHOOLED THEM ALL.
nasty women get stuff done.
Kudos to anyone who watched most of all of this. I caught the last 20 minutes of it, plus other highlights repeated later.
What kept coming to my mind is how she’s spent 27 years building a career, keeping her head down and apparently trying to do the right thing. Then, to be faced with humiliation of being fired (unjustly, IMO) and then appear before a bunch of posturing politicians. She did well to keep her composure and carry on.
She was so strong and did such a good job. It was amazing how she was able to so pointedly destroy their attacks on her and at the same time land her own powerful blows.
AND she schooled the party that values the constitution by quoting the constitution!
Sally Yates is an American Hero. Kennedy and Cruz tried to condescension and mansplaining to Sally and she put them in their place with facts. She was in charge. I love her!
Deleting? Those tweets are still there?
He deleted some of the earlier ones because he spelled words incorrectly
He originally spelt Counsel as Council and got schooled by the dictionary.
https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/861576558494056448
I love how one of the tweets says that is ” ‘no evidence.’ ” I’m picturing this puckered orange asshole attempting to reassure people when in fact he’s the type of douche who constantly overuses quotation marks without realizing where to put them or what they imply – “Have some cookies, kids, they’re ‘freshly baked.’ “
It’s telling that even after Flynn was warned several times that his Russian communications were being monitored he continued to speak with the Russians. He most certainly felt secure because baby fists led him to believe he was working on his behalf. But I also find i that asswith it appalling that Flynn on his own lacked the moral compass and integrity to stop these communications.
This gangster administration is drooling over big money making contracts promised by Russia. Kushner and his family are setting themselves up nicely to profit from their powerful position. The Kushner patriarch is a crook as are his children. The drumsps are huge grifters with no conscience or integrity.
It seems obvious that Trump and his people knew what Flynn were doing and were ok with it. Trump & his transition team didn’t even have Flynn get an in-depth CIA background check before offering him one of the highest level intelligence jobs in the country. For those who don’t know, there are different levels of background checks. The background check that the Trump people relied on was conducted in 2014 (I believe) and was a very basic check. Every other national security advisor in modern history has an in-depth CIA background check where their bank accounts are checked, friends/family/casual acquaintances are interviewed, more detailed lie detector test is given, etc. The first few weeks after the election Trump wasn’t going to his intel briefings, relying on Flynn to get the briefs and tell him about it.
Yates is my new heroine. I aspire to be just like her in the face of adversity.
And the sad thing is-the people that need to read this stuff never will. The headlines on fox/brietbart etc all painted the narrative about how Yates was torn to shreds and they edited her testimony. Fake news indeed.
It’s sad, but it’s not surprising. Those core Trump supporters will ignore anything that doesn’t paint their Dear Leader in a flattering light, and they always will. I mean heck, his own daughter is right up there with them.
Yes. It is so important people get the correct info, but they never will because the president himself is so compromised.
The real people that need to read this stuff are GOP congressional members who have the power to stop the corruption in the administration. This is now congressional record, and they can’t hide from it.
Really don’t care anymore what any Trump supporter thinks. We shouldn’t try to appeal to them at all, they are lost. Its liberals we need to turn out and moderates.
I agree. All of this hand-wringing about how to reach the hardcore, ride-or-die Trump voters… NO. They are too far gone and too stupid to save themselves, so bye.
There are plenty of sane right-moderates in this country who CAN be reached, however. We need to focus not on bridging the aisle to everyone, which won’t work, but galvanizing the people who can be reasoned with.
The hardcore Trump supporters are a tiny minority of adults in this country. Just the ones who voted made up 1/4 at most of the registered voters. If we count unregistered adults, the figure could be much less, even 15%. The number really is negligible.
Focus on removing obstacles to voting that kept millions away from the polls and also convincing the non-voters that they need to grow up and make decisions on Election Day. Pretending that every politician is evil so it doesn’t matter just won’t cut it. That’s how we ended up with a corrupt and demented incompetent in the White House. There are only two choices in a US Presidential race, pick the one who won’t blow up the planet. Not hard at all.
Yeah I’m not interested in holding hands with those people. They are nuts and post on social media ALL day. Some of them still have giant Trump billboard size signs up in their yards. They are not to be reasoned with.
Just keep reminding people that they don’t have to rely on edited sound bites and broadcasters telling them what happened any more. They can go to YouTube and find the whole thing and listen while they do the dishes.
I loved that she made ted cruz look like a fool..
Someone on a panel this morning said that he (TC) always acts as if he’s intellectually superior to anyone else in the room. Yet he set up a chance for an amazing response, which she provided.
A wonderful moment with Cruz!
What is significant here is the fact that 18 days went by, with Flynn having full access to all sensitive information, before Trump finally had to let him go because it got in the press.
Another significant revelation: the fact that Obama told him even earlier not to hire Flynn.
That gap is practically ignored, as orange and his fellow circus clowns yap about leaks.
It’s like — Never mind the smoke you can see, but who had the audacity to call the fire department?
And he didn’t vet him. Who else wasn’t vetted?
The not vetting thing bothers me because as much as they are trying to dismantle everything Obama did, they blindly accepted the vetting Obama’s team did on Flynn. I don’t care who you are, where you work, if there is a position that requires high security YOU should be doing your own vetting and not rely on others.
I commented on this above, but it’s so much more than just relying on Obama’s vetting of Flynn. The Obama vetting of Flynn was NOT enough to get the National Security Advisor position. There are different types of vetting for different levels of security clearance. This isn’t just my opinion, but the opinion of every other administration in modern American history. The vetting for that position should have been done by the CIA and been in-depth. Trump & his team never bothered to have Flynn get the usual vetting either because they were too dumb to know to do that OR they knew Flynn was compromised and wanted to conceal it.
Cruz is a pitiful and disgusting excuse for a human. After everything Trump said about him, his wife, etc, he’s still Trump’s b*tch. It’s pathetic to behold.
Just goes to show these a-holes have no soul. They’ll do anything for power & control; make any human sacrifice….they’re all so revolting and abhorrent.
Her response to Cruz was a textbook shutdown. He tried to out-lawyer her and got schooled. Leave the lawyering to the practicing attorneys, Ted. Sally Yates is way smarter than most anyone you run into in the Senate.
Me too. Me too. Me too!!
Her composure was unshakeable! Feinstein asked both her and Clapper if there was collusion between Trumps team and the Russians, they both claimed they’re answer was classified,
Game, set, match….just a matter of time
Her schooling that smarmy , melting face bastard Ted Cruz was the best. What was a little better was how he ran out of that hearing after she schooled him.
The Rethugs are pathetic tools and so is their petty leader.
Grassley, Cruz, Graham and that moron from Louisiana should be ashamed for doing that traitor’s bidding yesterday. The issue is NOT the leak; the issue is the substance of the leak. And that substance is TREASON. And how the Hell would Yates know who the leaker was? It is very likely the leak came from the CIA or Navy Intelligence after it became clear Trump was letting Flynn have access to security information.
Yates and Clapper were both fantastic. She is a true patriot and those clowns don’t deserve to be in the same room as her.
Absolutely. Spineless traitors, the lot, and the way they condescended to her, lectured her, patronized her, spoke over her, and accused her of breaking the law for doing her job was disgusting. I was yelling at the screen watching them try to make the hearing about leaks and the Muslim ban. They couldn’t even bother to cover up their open misogyny as they grilled her. She handled herself with unimaginable grace and composure as she eviscerated them with facts, and she’s a hero. I hope those worms rot. It was enraging to watch them do that man’s dirty work.
I am wondering if their desperate push to change the subject to leaking is more than just keeping their Faustian bargain to protect Tr*mp? Is it possible that they may want to make any kind of unmasking illegal because they are afraid their calls with shady folks will be exposed next?
If they’re concerned about unmasking, they have nobody but themselves to blame for passing the USPATRIOT Act in the first place.
@Lightpurple, this is exactly what my (also badass attorney) wife said this morning! Their gutting of our privacy is coming back to bite them!
Ik,r? They’re upset that the truth is being leaked. How DARE someone be spreading the truth about what’s going on?! They’re leaking the truth before I can get Spicer to leak my lies!
It is truly sad how clearly partisan (and off-topic) they were.
Trump sure hates obama. After he asked him not to hired flynn.
All I can say is that she was simply marvelous. I was in awe of her composure and responses and she didn’t back down or give an inch. It was interesting to see how the Repubs are only concerned with “how” we know Flynn talked to the Russian ambassador rather than the fact that Flynn did and the seriousness of that. And also Yates warned the White House about Flynn and it took them days to concoct some lie to justify his firing.
Oh, I love the fact that Obama told Trump NOT to hire Flynn, but Trump hired him anyway. And now Spicer is trying to spin it as “ignoring advice from a sore loser.” Arrogant jackasses, all of them.
Obama’s also told Trump, apart from the security questions, that Flynn was erratic, and a bad manager. Flynn had been a general under Obama. Can you imagine him being chosen as THE (topmost) National Security advisor to the president of the US?
Hmmm. I don’t think Ted Cruz’s injuries from that smackdown are covered by the AHCA, amiright?
That burn will be a pre-existing condition.
🙂 But remember the senators and congressmen/women aren’t affected by the AHCA. They have been exempt from it.
She bitc* slapped him and sent him packing.
“when will this taxpayer funded charade end?” when you’re impeached, you deranged piece of shit.
Seriously. And the selective outrage is such a joke. How about the taxpayer funded charade of his vacations at Mar a Lago and for Melania to stay away from the White House? And the taxpayer funded charade of the Benghazi hearings? And her emails? Never forget her emails!!!
Or the taxpayer funded charade of Princess Nagini’s ski trips or theater excursions?
Or Qusay and Usay’s trips for business.
That was my particular favorite considering how long the taxpayer funded charade over Hillary Clinton and Benghazi went on.
Methinks the orange one doth protest too much… but that’s #oldnews as well. And let’s not forget the taxpayer funded charade of “but emails! Benghazi!” The myopia is strong with them.
Oh, ha, I just said basically the same thing above. Trump and the GOP hypocrites make me want to smash something.
Let’s start with the patriarchy!
The Trumpians have been claiming that Obama renewed Flynn’s security clearance so Obama must have thought he was okay. But Flynn was trotting to security briefings with Trump during the campaign, so I imagine he might have needed a low-level clearance for that. Obama warned Trump during the transition that it would be a big mistake to put Flynn in the National Security Advisor role and Flynn actually never got through the process to obtain the much more rigorous security clearance for a National Security Advisor. He was fired first, but only after Pence was embarrassed to find out that he had been used to deliver incorrect information in public based on what Flynn told him. I think the Trumpians were keeping Pence out of the loop in general and he must have made a major issue out of it.
Flynn really must be batshit crazy. He must have known his conversations with Russian officials were monitored so the odds were high that the details would get out eventually.
You’re right, jwoolman – the Republican attempt to “blame Obama” for Flynn’s security clearance is _insane_, cynical and disgusting. The timeline, again:
– Flynn was forced into retirement a year early, during Obama’s period of office, due to gross and chaotic mismanagement of his department;
– When he retired, his access and clearance became ‘inactive;’
– After retiring, he started his own company (Flynn Intel Group) – which did not require any further reactivation of his security clearance as it was not a gov’t position;
– When it became clear that he was being considered for the position of National Security Advisor (= Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, which does not require Senate confirmation but was solely the responsibility of the Executive Office), he needed to be vetted again, as he had been retired for too long; this meant he had to undergo a National Agency Check with Inquiries (NACI). At this point, Flynn lied (a felony), by not disclosing his contacts with the Russians;
– After the election, Obama _warned_ Trump not to appoint this dangerous lunatic, but of course Orange Caligula paid not one whit of attention (this might explain Trump’s demeanour after his first visit to Obama in the WH after the election);
– When, in January, Yates from the DOJ repeatedly warned the WH that this senior aide, in a position of great power and influence, was potentially blackmail-able, how did the assholes react? Yup – shoot the messenger. One wonders, if the WashPo article had not exposed Flynn’s Russian contacts, and his lying, if he would still be in that position….? It seems perfectly obvious that the new administration was well aware of Flynn’s contacts and shady deals with Russia, and either did not care, or was itself too _compromised_ , to take any action, until forced to do so by public exposure;
– The final note: Trump’s threatening and intimidating tweets, designed to put pressure on a public servant as she undergoes Senate questioning, surely fall under the category of frigging TREASON.
And this is Obama’s fault because….. ????!!!!
I can’t wait for this entire administration of s**t-bags to go down in flames. Go, Yates! I hope she has a sterling career ahead of her!
Very nice summary, thank you. One thing that I haven’t been able to figure out is why Trump and/or his team was hell bent on putting Flynn and only Flynn into that position. Does Flynn have something on Trump? I feel like I’m missing something major.
@Esmom – thanks – this I’m sure though is just the tip of the iceberg, and your question is very appropriate. Why Flynn and only Flynn? Given the fact that he formed his own private “intel” company, through which he almost certainly must have had close contacts/business/shady deals with Russia, it doesn’t seem too far-fetched to speculate that he was also somehow involved in – if not directly co-responsible for – the election hacking. He would have had his own axe to grind, given the fact that he was forced to retire under Obama. So, Trump must know this, and Flynn knows that Trump knows… etc etc. I think that Flynn also must have something major on Trump (perhaps relating to Trump’s toad-spawn Eric apparently mentioning that they “don’t need banks for funding anymore; they’ve got Russia” (with regard to golf course expansions a year or so ago…)…..).
My HUGE HOPE here is that the DOJ and other intelligence-gathering agencies have got something BIG TIME on Trump and his disgusting gang of criminals, and they’re just waiting for the right moment to drop the boom. (*Sigh. We can but hope, can’t we?).
Orange Caligula LMAO perfect 😀
That Yates told them 3 TIMES is insane.
The flag was raised the DAY AFTER Flynn was interviewed by the FBI. She said they were so concerned, they couldn’t wait for the official FBI report, they had to go to the White House immediately.
Flynn’s sins are multiple: 1. He did something referred to has “his conduct” that was troubling. 2. His troubling conduct was known by Russians, making him vulnerable to blackmail. 3. The Russians knew that public statements by Pence contradicted reality, making him further vulnerable to blackmail.
Esmom – I suspect more and more that money laundering is the thing involving Trump directly and might have been the part of the monitored discussions that first triggered alarm bells. They may possibly have kept him out of the direct loop about the hacking since he’s such a blabbermouth and doesn’t understand “the cyber” anyway. But Trump is an old hand at money laundering. One of the two grand juries allegedly convened about all this is/was allegedly dealing with money laundering.
I always knew she would talk like Holly Hunter and kick ass! There is nothing like a smart, well prepared woman to destroy a pseudo- intellectual like Cruz.
Holly Hunter absolutely needs to play her. I know this is a fluffy comment but still..
I like your post. Holly is from Conyers, Ga. The south is much maligned and most of the time, the region deserves it! However, there are fair and progressive southerners, and it is nice to see one.
I would so watch that movie.
A fellow Georgian! So proud.
I know! At least we have Yates, Lewis and Carter
Are you from Ga? I am originally from Columbus, Ga.
That’s great trio for sure. And you guys deserve to be proud of SY 🙂
I’m from Cherokee County (about an hour north of ATL)
Gwinnett and Forsyth native here, currently living in Carrollton but moving back to Cumming soon. She made me proud to be a Georgia girl.
Granted she can’t tell everything about this whole mess(classified information) but I would wager Sally Yates still has some good stories about dealing with the current administration. Hopefully she considers writing a book someday.
“Yes, when WILL this taxpayer funded charade end? ”
You mean his presidency? I hope.
Simply a HERO🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Neither Texas Senator fared well yesterday. She totally schooled John Cornyn too, best was when he brought up her testimony from her confirmation hearing and she corrected him.
Agreed. That guy telling Yates she “disappointed him” made me want to throw something.
The democrats did a great job of getting things on the record, and making sure people knew, on record, that the ban Yates said was unlawful actually really was, and the WH revoked it because it was unlawful. Not that it matters, they just spin whatever tale they need.
It was amazing that she was able to smack down his comments with his own previous words. She played that expertly.
It was riveting! After months of a national discourse steeped in stupidity, it was a breath of fresh air to hear someone speaking calmly, logically and truthfully. Sally Yates is a consummate professional, who (lucky for us) has had decades of experience prosecuting fraud and corporate crime. She knows exactly what is going on. I took note of her comment that the DOJ is staffed with highly competent people in which she has full confidence (but she didn’t include Sessions…). It has become so clear that this entire administration is nothing but a mafia operation. If you’re in the U.S., please call your senators and reps today to demand an independent investigation of Tr*mp’s Russian ties!
Watching her school those misogynistic a-holes was a bright light in this otherwise incredibly disturbing year.
I hope other Texans were as disgusted and embarrassed by our Senators, Cruz and Cornyn, as I was. They tried so hard to take her down, make her look guilty of anything, but she ran rings around them. Sally Yates is a true patriot. Cruz and Cornyn put party over country consistently, and I will donate what I can, and work hard to get them both defeated. Yates was magnificent.
Fellow Texan here and I’m 10000% with you. Cruz and Cornyn are despicable. I’m glad Sally came locked and loaded, and made fools out of them all. She’s going to go down in history as a hero who opposed corruption and fascism.
Another Texan here…I hate those two smarmy a**holes. I’m going to start campaigning for Beto O’Rourke to unseat that weak-chinned baboon.
Why do Texans elect such snake oil salesmen to be their representatives? What’s going on that these crazies can’t be voted out of office?
Texas has been heavily gerrymandered to suppress minority votes and guarantee Republicans take statewide offices. The late, great Molly Ivins described the process as it happened in her old columns.
Molly Ivins was the best. What I wouldn’t give to have had her lobbing verbal hand grenades in the general direction of the Republicans, and Trump in particular, for the last year or so. It would have been epic.
It’s truly a shame that she never got a chance to skewer Cruz and Trump the way she did George W. Bush. Apparently, she was also credited with giving him the nickname “Shrub”.
I don’t exactly consider myself a Texan, but I have lived here for more than 10 years. Creepy Cruz and Cornyn are awful, and yes, they always toe the party line. I’m also 100% onboard with Beto O’Rourke, especially now that Castro decided not to run against Cruz. Beto is worth supporting and (as a bonus) is dreamy in person.
She was amazing. Cool, calm, composed. No matter how much some tried to rattle her or trip her up she didn’t let them, and completely held her own. Badass, indeed. And, really, the same could be said about Clapper. He just rolled with the questions and seemed to see through what some were trying to do, but didn’t let them.
I thought Clapper was great too. I wanted to go for drinks with the two of them.
I am so impressed by her composure. She’s smart and tough, and knows her stuff. Those politicians looked foolish by comparison.
Clapper was not on board with the GOP distractions, and clearly said that the leaking/unmasking issue is “ancillary” but the Russian attacks are not. He put a this strong statement on the record:
“If there has ever been a clarion call for vigilance and action against a threat to the very foundation of our democratic political system, this episode is it.”
I got a good laugh out of the “classified or unclassified exchange?” over the media leaks that Clapper had where he looked the guy straight in the eye and responded, “Unclassified information is not a leak.”
Considering the angles that certain democrats’ questions/comments had, it is safe to say that they are preparing to make the most serious allegations possible (against trump and pence). They weren’t after Flynn.
That is a hopeful sight.
Good point.
I’m hoping this is true; that they take Pence down along with Trump. We can deal whoever is left on the food chain at that point.
Which will be President Paul Ryan. Mr.”Rape is just another form of conception”.
OTOH he is so spectacularly unpopular it would probably guarantee a Democrat win in 2020…
@Kyra, I can’t stand Ryan but would secretly love to see the amazing memes and twitter glee unleashed like a glitter bomb if this happened.
The only way we get President Ryan is if Trump & Pence go out simultaneously without Congress approving a replacement nominated by one of them. Gerald Ford was never Speaker.
Be careful what you wish for. Paul Ryan is next in the line of succession.
It’s possible Pence has been seriously out of the loop. Trump has never acted as though he genuinely respected Pence. After Pence agreed to be the VP candidate, Trump was quickly asking if there was a way to get out of it. He was apparently told no, you’re stuck with it. We know Trump Jr had contacted Kasich’s people and been laughed out of the room – he had told them that the VP would be taking care of domestic and foreign policy while Donald focused on Making America Great Again. I don’t think Pence is exactly in charge of all that, although he’s been the semi-rational face of the Administration in Europe and South Korea.
Pence’s main role seems to be to hover over Trump during ceremonies, ready to grab him if he goes completely bonkers. When Trump marched out of the room without signing the executive orders he came to sign, Pence ran after him and then came back to collect the papers.
I can’t stand Ryan either, but I’d take him over both Trump and Pence. With Ryan we wouldn’t be taunting North Korea into attacking us or making Gilead a frightening reality.
My concern was that Yates kept saying that Flynn lied to Pence which is obviously true, but Pence is all up in this too. He gave his stamp of approval on all of this. I don’t want Trump to be impeached just to have satan’s son sitting in the oval office completing what trump wanted to do. They AAAALLLLL need to go. Pence is just as dirty as the rest.
Well on one hand the White House claims that Pence was informed about Flynn two weeks after Yates told McGann, and on the other hand Spicer said in a pressconference that McGann told the higherups about Flynn immediately after his meeting with Yates. And this is now on record. So now they HAVE to call them to testify. These are important contradictions.
Also the dems were implying that the travelban was introduced so sudden on friday (we all wondered why) because the higher ups wanted Yates out after her meeting with the White House that exact day and they knew she couldn’t and wouldn’t approve the ban and they would fire her by monday (which is when the white house would set a date to look at evidence about Flynn with DoJ, that then likely and conveniently never happened).
They didnt go deep into this since the hearings arent about making accusations, but there were questions about who would be the decisionmakers and how the timeline exactly us. They are searching for who to talk to.
Ivanka Trump should look at Sally Yates and cry. Accept no imitations.
i saw the picture floating around twitter with Sally, in the middle of the composition with an empty chair across her slightly askew like an aftermath of some guy caught redhanded had did a runner.
her face, in profile, looked as though she’s saying “hang on where’s he gone?”
What a pile of pathetic cowards. How do these people sleep at night??
i don’t think they sleep much at all.
they say lack of sleep negatively impacts brain activities, impair judgement, lowers iq and slows down rational thought, and makes people more irritable and delusional. seems about right?
Sally Yates
First of her name
Breaker of Chains
Mother of Dragons
The Great Khaleesi
Long may she reign.
The King is dead. Long live Queen Yates! Kicking ass and taking names.
The Unburnt
I’m seeing more of a fierce Lady Mormont. Articulate, wise, smart and shuts down the room with her words. Queen of the North!
My visceral reaction is to gnash my teeth when hearing cruz or reading trumps twitter.
What sitting President has the f–king time to sit and tweet all day? When Obama was elected, he was forced to give up his blackberry and this asshat is allowed to keep an unsecured android phone and send out ridiculous tweets all day. I hate these people.
This is a blessing. You just know it’s a major security issue and will be the administrations downfall if nothing else happens sooner. Not soon enough, but yea.
Why’d trumpie say there’s “no evidence” in quotes? He said Obama “wiretapped” Him and then said don’t take him literally. Guess we shouldn’t take the no evidence thing seriously.
Cheeto also pasted in his own tweet from hours earlier into his twitter banner profile pic. 🙁
The most embarrassing racist grandpa
That was hilarious…. Nothing screams “I’m innocent!” Like having to put up a banner saying, “I’m innocent!”. In the third person, of course.
He doesn’t even know how to pin a tweet. This man is a moron. I have no idea what has gotten him so far in life. His “charm”?
Honestly Lord Cheeto is one of the least charming people I have ever seen. I know you can be a sociopath and exude charm even while stealing, raping and killing. However, this man lacks basic 5th grader social skills IMHO. And his looks are even more horrendous. I guess nepotism really does work for some. 🙁
Ted Cruz is growing out a combover there.
My sister and BIL are visiting from Atlanta, so I’m out of the loop from Sunday till Wednesday P.M. Just grabbing a quick look here and loving all your comments. Thanks, guys.
@SusanneToo: Enjoy your visits!
Later, you’re going to have to whip up a stiff jug of potables, sit back, and devote quite some time to catching up with this, because boy, is the s**t ever hitting the proverbial fan!
We’ll miss you but I hope your Trump-vacation is a refreshing reprieve.
Go to cspan later and watch the whole thing–it’s amazing!
Why the f*** was he livetweeting this?! Does he not have ANYTHING ELSE to do?!?!?!
In TrumpWorld, the Presidency of the United States is a two-hour–a-day job, dontcha know?
Yates’ voice rang with clarity and she did a great job! As for Trump: “Methinks the man-baby doth protest too much,”
I was so inspired by her. Her integrity and intelligence were unshakable. Those trying to manipulate her looked like fools they are.
I was so inspired by her, too. I kept thinking she’s the type of woman I’d like to be. So intelligent and strong.
Yes indeed! We all needed Sally Yates to restore the faith.
Sally Yates, you are on the right side of history! Keep being you!
Sally Yates is what happens when you do your job with integrity. I admire her.
Waiting to see if they eventually put Pence under oath to defend his unlikely statement that he knew nothing. How quickly can we impeach both of them?
Sadly, the Republicans have pretty much proven that Trump and his administration are going to get a free pass no matter how appalling or illegal their actions are, so impeachment is probably off the table until the Dems take control of the House and/or Senate. Mark your calendar for January 3, 2019, and that’s an optimistic date. The House may be up for grabs at the next mid-term election in 2018, but the Senate not so much. Only 8 seats held by Republican senators will be contested in 2018, all in states that vote red almost exclusively. It’s unlikely many of those will go to Democratic candidates.
Condoleezza Rice is on “The View” defending Trump, Tillerson, the entire regime. She won’t comment on what was said to whom (RE: Yates, Obama, Flynn)… you know why? Because SHE ignored Clinton’s warning to her about Bin Laden. You know how that played out.
She’s a POS…always was. It’s nice to feel nostalgic about the George W Era, but, Bush, Cheney, Powell and Rice were and are POSs. Revisionist history doesn’t work just because Trump has set the bar so low.
I had to turn it off while she was singing the praises of Tillerson. She makes me sick.
Don’t forget Rumsfeld and Rove.
Yet they are still not as awful as the current incarnation of the GOP.
and that’s saying somethin’.
@Kitten
No-one is nostalgic about Rumsfeld or Rove. No-one cuts them any slack….they’re non-entities. There’s no revisionist history about either of them.
“Yet they are still not as awful as the current incarnation of the GOP.”
I disagree… especially, about Rove. IMO
Agreed! She was a critical part of the Bush team that lied to get us into an absolutely unnecessary and illegal, perpetual war, dragging the UK and other allies along with us and destabilizing the entire globe–consigning to death many thousands of troops and civilians. It’s SO WRONG that people such as Rice (and earlier figures like Kissinger) are venerated like wise sages, when they are war criminals.
Can we add Lee Atwater to the list? His deceitful and deplorable campaign tactics have been widely adopted by the Republican establishment since Reagan, and are one of the primary reasons they keep winning elections.
The corrupt Republicans know he doesn’t know, or care, what he’s doing and he can be totally talked into anything. They won’t hold him accountable. Our country is just a circus sh!tshow right now.
Sally Yates is an intellectual Wonder Woman for the ages and crushed the boys. I watched the whole thing but muted the dopes and followed on Twitter instead.
The highlight for me was Al Franken who connected the dots by asking the question: if the WH knew about Flynn, then why was nothing done about it until he was exposed by the Washington Post? And then he answered the question: because could it be that they weren’t worried about blackmail because a lot of people (and he named names- the usual suspects including Kushner and Page) were in on it.
She was so forebearing. I wanted her to leap over her desk and go for their throats just like in Marvel movies. Well, she did it metaphorically, but unfortunately it was so beyond the intellectual powers of the Trump troglodytes and hence their moronic crowing.
If it weren’t for the leak, Flynn would still be in and the damage inestimable.
The traitors also tried to steer Yates to declare that Pence did not know but she did qualify that she didn’t know what Pence knew although at first she used the line that Pence was unknowingly spreading Flynn’s lies to the public. I felt that qualifier was not strong enough.
Ted Cruz seriously makes me stabby….
When will Lestat return for him???
In Texas, we’re pinning our hopes on Beto O’Rourke. 2018. Ted Cruz is odious.
Yes, I am hoping so hard for O’Rourke to make it through!
Yes! If anyone here can’t vote in Texas but wants to stick it to Grandpa Munster Ted Cruz, consider contributing to Beto O’Rourke’s campaign.
Love these comments! She was such a star — ethical, brave, professional, calm, brilliant and truly American. The Trumpites seem increasingly corrupt and incompetent.
A highly intelligent person who understands the law, respects the Constitution, is comfortable in high-pressure situations, and knows how to deal with stupid people – has Sally Yates considered running for POTUS? I liked Hillary a lot, but I think I have a woman crush on Ms. Yates!!
Just because:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sally-yates-hearing_us_5911ec16e4b05e1ca2022993?dg&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Trump has just fired Comey on the advice of Sessions! Scary thought which Trumpet is going to replace him to cover up the Russian links.
Well, Jimmy, you lie (Merriam-Webster meanings 1a,b,d; 3, 4) with dogs; you wake up with fleas.
This is getting out of hand. Trump is doing everything in his power to stand in the way of the investigations on his ties to Russia. When will the GOP start putting the people before their party? Enough is enough. How long are they going to let Trump
He fired Sally Yates when she informed them about Flynn.
He had Devin Nunes reverse manufacture support for his lie about being wiretapped by Obama, cancel the hearing with Sally Yates, and bring the HIC investigation to a complete halt.
He then had the GOP on the Senate, refuse to sign any paperwork regarding witness lists to bring the Senate investigation to a halt.
Yesterday, Trump and his people spent the day, trying to get GOP to cancel the hearing with Sally Yates. Then Trump was on twitter the whole day, trying to intimidate Sally Yates into not testifying.
He had Lindsey Graham give interviews about how he didn’t see any evidence of Trump in cahoots with the Russia and that leaks and unmasking was more important than Trumps ties to Russia.
Now Trump fired Comey, claiming that it was because how he handled the Hiliary Clinton email thing and in the letter, Trump wrote something very odd. Trump stated that Comey told him 3 times that he wasn’t under investigation. This right here is all we need to know. Trump didn’t fire Comey because of how he handled the Hilliary emails, he fired Comey to slow down the FBI investigation just like he did to the HIC and Senate. That means that something even more damaging about Trump and Russia is coming out.
Trump, his cohorts in GOP and his administration are scared – the evidence against Flynn icould potentially bring down the current administration or certainly people close to the throne. Comey will be replaced by someone who’s ass is own by Trump/Bannon.
I wonder if there will be more leaks now from the US intelligence community to further damage Trump.
Holy sh*t. I knew when it was reported, then corroborated, that Comey outright lied to Congress things wouldn’t go well for him, but that happened way faster than I thought it would. And yeah, part of me thinks it is just an excuse so no one will ask about the real reason behind why he’s gone.
Thanks for this info. I’d taken a break from all things Trump for the sake of my blood pressure but I can’t resist reading the posts on here. Let’s hope you all get your wish and Trump and the rest of Evil corp will all end up in jail preferably but at least out of office.
totally shocked that this can happen but i guess that’s what nixon did (firing special prosecutor.) so obvious that they’re running scared. they’re not even skillful about it. hoping that the repubs wake up from the stench and start protecting our democracy. call your reps now and demand an independent prosecutor.
I also forgot to add, what should be of more concern is whether or not Trump will order all of the information about Trump and Russia that was collected by Comey to be destroyed.
It also being reported that the person to replace Comey was leaking information about the Trump Russia investigation to Reince P to give them a heads up.
If ever there was a need for an independent investigation, it’s now. Trump is doing everything to halt the investigation, he needs to be held accountable for his actions. This is the 6th time that Trump has tried to halt the Senate, HIC, and FBI investigation.
I hope someone in the FBI is patriotic enough to have kept separate records and has scattered/hidden them (or copies of the originals) to the right people.
This is getting scary. According to Hallee Jackson(the reporter who said that Trump was a changed man because he saw the photos of the kids and that only a handful of people booed Ivanka), the WH and Sean Spicer are now going after Schumer. Schumer said that he told Trump that he was making a mistake firing Comey who is heading the investigation against Trump and then hours later they go on the attack against Comey. Hallee said that they were handing out some type of paper about Schumer.
What the press needs to be asking and finding out is what did Comey have on Trump and Russia today because Trump, Spicer, and WH are running scared. The WH isn’t directly speaking, but it’s obvious that they are using reporters like Pete Williams and Haylle Jackson to get their message out. They are now telling us that the firing was in the works for weeks, but we all know that after watching Sally Yates yesterday that this isn’t true. Trump decided to fire Comey either yesterday or today.
When is enough enough? Sally Yates. Breet B. Now Comey(if Trump really thought that Comey was in the wrong, then he would have never been videotaped blowing kisses and winking to Comey). What did they have in common? Investigations against Trump and his people. This is why the press needs to stop the nonsense. It was sick watching those reporters sit in Sean Spicers press release as he said all those negative things and lies about Sally Yates and not one of them stood up for her. Now Lestor Holt is doing an interview with Trump? Now is the time for them to do their jobs and stop worrying about whether they will lose their spots on Spicer’s press releases.
Someone said that Comey found out about the firing on TV. If the firing
and letter was in the works for weeks, why then did Comey find out about the firing today not from Trump, but from the TV?
Guess who has emerged from her crypt to spin this on TV?
This is all a mess. Here’s the summary:
Comey learned about the firing while he was in CA from the TV(he didn’t get a warning from anyone), he thought it was a joke and even laughed. Which means that while Comey was out of the office, Trump and his people were probably destroying any information he had on them.
Comey was scheduled to testify on Thursday. It’s unclear if he will be able to testify.
The Grand Jury issued subpoenas to Flynn’s associates, requesting their business records. just hours before Trump fired Comey. So the firing wasn’t in the works for weeks, Trump did it right after he learned that Flynn’s business associates, which could possibly include Trump, were going to have to give up information about Flynn.
Sessions recommended the firing, even though he was not supposed to be handling anything related to Russia and Hilliary.
Trump had his body guard deliver the letter to Comey’s office, but Comey wasn’t there because he was in LA. The letter was delivered after the press was reporting the firing. Did the body guard take and destroy the info in Comey’s office while he was there?
Comey is being replaced by Andrew McCabe, Trump’s people are spinning that he has ties to Hilliary, but McCabe leaked information to Reince P about the Russian investigation to help Trump.
Tomorrow Trump is meeting at the WH with a Prime Minister from Russia.
The letter written by Rod Rosenstein explaining why Comey was fired, was plagiarized from an article that someone wrote about Comey last year.
Someone noticed that the notices on Rod’s Rosenstein’s memos have today’s date on it.
Sarah Huckabee was bragging about how the Russian investigation is over and Kellyanne is saying that there never was an investigation, which means that they probably destroyed alot of the information that Comey had on them.
now that Comey was fired, can’t he do another testimony before the Senate committee? Or leak to the press?
And: Sergej Lawrow is visiting the WH today.