Both Democrats and Republicans alike — on Capitol Hill and in the media — are trying to make sense of Wednesday’s landmark testimony by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller and where things go from here. We do a bit of the same ourselves on today’s BradCast. Though I hope we are a great deal more honest about it than Donald Trump and Fox “News”, and less confusing than Fox’ Ainsley Earhardt who announced this morning that Mueller’s testimony “didn’t change anything”, before going on to tell viewers that “it changed everything”. [Audio link to show our full program is posted below.]
For full coverage and extended excerpts from Mueller’s nearly seven hours of hearings before the U.S. House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, see yesterday’s special coverage show. For analysis and the fallout since the Republican former FBI Director confirmed the multiple and repeated felonious and impeachable crimes by the President of the United States detailed in his 448-page report [PDF], we’re joined by the great HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Hullabaloo today. As usual, we attempt to cut through the media drama and partisan positioning to get to the actual facts and important content that matters.
Among the issues discussed with Parton….
- The fact that only Republicans are ever allowed to be Special Counsel/Prosecutors, no matter whether the President being investigated is a Democrat or a Republican;
- Content of note from Wednesday’s hearings that was both damning to Donald Trump and at risk of being lost amid frequently lousy corporate media coverage (and, wholly dishonest coverage from rightwing outlets);
- The proper context for making “sense” of some of the conspiracies offered on Wednesday by Republicans, even as Trump’s AG/fixer Bill Barr and other GOPers may have done harm lately to the prospects of their own conspiracy-based argument about the origins of what would eventually become the Mueller investigation;
- How House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is still dropping the ball on impeachment in Congress, at least for now, and setting the country up for even more Presidential corruption in both the near and distant future in the bargain;
- And, where all of this madness may and/or should go next.
“It seems obvious to me that we have a criminal in the White House. And an abuser, a corrupt leader, and a barbarian and an ignoramus,” Parton explains, cutting to the chase. “He’s an unfit President and he should be impeached. To me, this is obvious.”
But, she goes on, in struggling to make sense of why impeachment proceedings have not already been triggered, “One of the reasons that the dial is not being moved is the way that the press is covering this. There was a lot of criticism, during and after the testimony, about the fact that they covered it like a sporting event. ‘He didn’t put on the best show’, etc. etc. The theater criticism. This is a big problem because this is a complicated story. People are seeing it as a game, as this is a strategy, instead of what it really is — which is a fundamental threat to our democracy.
“If Donald Trump gets away with this, if he gets off scot-free — re-elected or not — if he gets away with doing these things while in office, it has changed everything. The President is no longer accountable. If Donald Trump cannot be impeached, then nobody can be impeached. Impeachment no longer exists as a stop on a President like this. And that’s very scary,” warns Parton.
Also on today’s BradCast: “Unprecedented” heat and wildfires in the Arctic; Ohio’s “socialist” Republicans give the planet and Ohio residents the finger by going all in on Big Government bailouts of coal and nuclear power companies; U.S. automakers give Trump the finger by working out a secret deal with California to lower vehicle emissions; The Trump Administration gives humanity the finger by deciding to “Make America Kill Americans Again”; A federal judge in California gives the finger to the Administration’s new, unlawful southern border asylum ban; And Kim Jong Un gives his friend Donald the finger by firing off a few ballistic missiles to celebrate Mueller’s testimony.
And, finally, we’re joined by Desi Doyen for the latest Green News Report on some of the above, and much much more…
CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!…
[audio:http://BradBlog.com/audio/BradCast_BradFriedman_HeatherDigbyParton-MuellerTestimony_ArcticHeat_OhioCoal_072519.mp3]
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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Boy, some of those mainstream media types have a different spin on the Mueller hearings:
The Blockbuster That Wasn’t: Mueller Disappoints the Democrats —- (NY Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/us/politics/trump-mueller-democrats.html
Mueller just handed Republicans a gift —- (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/24/opinions/robert-mueller-hearing-westen/index.html
And for that all-important
Republican viewpoint . . .
Why the GOP sees Mueller’s testimony
as a win (CBS)
https://www.cbs.com/shows/cbs_this_morning/video/PwmmAnCyb5CDR__hYlrOZd9ChLiDCmp3/why-republicans-see-mueller-s-testimony-as-a-win/
So is Trump beating the media into
submission or what?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/us/politics/russian-hacking-elections.html
Russia Targeted Election Systems in All 50 States, Report Finds
By David E. Sanger and Catie Edmondson
July 25, 2019
WASHINGTON � The Senate Intelligence Committee concluded Thursday that election systems in all 50 states were targeted by Russia in 2016, an effort more far-reaching than previously acknowledged and one largely undetected by the states and federal officials at the time.
But while the bipartisan report�s warning that the United States remains vulnerable in the next election is clear, its findings were so heavily redacted at the insistence of American intelligence agencies that even some key recommendations for 2020 were blacked out.
The report � the first volume of several to be released from the committee�s investigation into Russia�s 2016 election interference � came 24 hours after the former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III warned that Russia was moving again to interfere �as we sit here.�
[See link above for more. Please do not copy/paste entire stories from elsewhere here. A few grafs and a link are fine. Thanks. – Brad]
Eric @ #2,
They don’t want to scare the public because (Blind Willie McTell News – 7).
ALSO …
Georgia election officials accused of destroying evidence
Source: Associated Press
Kate Brumback, Associated Press
Updated 4:10 pm CDT, Friday, July 26, 2019
A federal judge is set to hear arguments, Thursday, July 25, 2019, in a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s outdated voting machines and seeking statewide use of hand-marked paper ballots. The hearing will focus on requests for the judge to order the state to immediately stop using the current voting machines.
ATLANTA (AP) — In a federal court filing, lawyers for election integrity advocates accuse Georgia election officials of intentionally destroying evidence that could show unauthorized access to the state election system and potential manipulation of election results.
Election integrity advocates and individual Georgia voters sued election officials in 2017 alleging that the touchscreen voting machines Georgia has used since 2002 are unsecure and vulnerable to hacking. In a court filing Thursday, they said state officials began destroying evidence within days of the suit’s filing and continued to do so as the case moved forward.
“The evidence strongly suggests that the State’s amateurish protection of critical election infrastructure placed Georgia’s election system at risk, and the State Defendants now appear to be desperate to cover-up the effects of their misfeasance — to the point of destroying evidence,” the filing says.
A spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office, which oversees elections, denied the allegations.
The brief was filed Thursday as U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg was holding a hearing on requests by the plaintiffs that she order the state to immediately stop using its current voting machines and switch to hand-marked paper ballots. That hearing is set to continue Friday.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Georgia-election-officials-accused-of-destroying-14174519.php