Did the Trump-Ukraine Whistleblower Give Away the Game on Democrats’ Impeachment Push?

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. . .Then-Acting Attorney General Sally Yates refused to enforce the president’s executive action on immigration, which set off the rest of these nameless paper-pushers to do the same. We have allegations that the campaign was spied on by the CIA and FBI. Top Department of Justice officials discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump. Even liberal lawyer Alan Dershowitz said stuff like this constituted nothing more than a coup attempt. This Trump-Ukraine episode we’re dealing with is all because some whistleblower filed a complaint. This person did not listen in on the July phone call, which is the basis for this allegation. It’s all secondhand information. This person is a CIA agent, a registered Democrat, had worked in the Obama White House as a National Security Council staffer, and worked with a 2020 Democratic candidate. So, excuse me if I’m more than skeptical of this person’s intentions. And now his lawyer has talked about impeachment and a coup since 2017 (via Fox News):

Mark Zaid, one of the attorneys representing the whistleblower at the center of the Democrats’ ongoing impeachment inquiry, tweeted conspicuously in January 2017 that a “coup has started” and that “impeachment will follow ultimately.”

Then, in July 2017, Zaid remarked, “I predict @CNN will play a key role in @realDonaldTrump not finishing out his full term as president.” Also that month, Zaid tweeted, “We will get rid of him, and this country is strong enough to survive even him and his supporters.” . . .

The tweets, which came shortly after President Trump fired then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates for failing to defend federal laws in court, are likely to fuel Republican concerns that the anonymous whistleblower’s complaint is tainted with partisanship.

“The whistleblower’s lawyer gave away the game,” the Trump campaign’s communications director, Tim Murtaugh. told Fox News. “It was always the Democrats’ plan to stage a coup and impeach President Trump and all they ever needed was the right scheme. They whiffed on Mueller so now they’ve settled on the perfectly fine Ukraine phone call. This proves this was orchestrated from the beginning.”

(Read more from “Did the Trump-Ukraine Whistleblower Give Away the Game on Democrats’ Impeachment Push?” HERE)

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PHOTOS: Lobsterman Hauls in Unusual Catch off Maine Coast

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A Maine lobsterman got a shock when he caught a live deer in open water Monday morning.

Ren Dorr said he was setting traps when he saw the young deer, which had given up swimming and was being carried farther offshore.

“I’m sure he [had been] going from island to island or shore to an island and he couldn’t see or got caught in the current,” the 31-year-old Harrington lobsterman told the Bangor Daily News. “He was just kind of going with the flow. He wasn’t trying to fight it or swim with it. He was just kind of floating along.”

Dorr added that although he has seen deer swimming before he knows that if he hadn’t been a Good Samaritan and rescued the animal, it would have been “a goner.”

“I couldn’t have that on my conscience, obviously,” Dorr told the news outlet. “That’s not the guy that I am, so I figured I’d bring him in.” (Read more from “Lobsterman Hauls in Unusual Catch off Maine Coast” HERE)

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WATCH: Reporter Ties ABC’S Epstein Cover-Up to Clintons, Stephanopoulos; Epstein’s Brother Believes He Was Likely Murdered

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By The Blaze. Mark Epstein, brother of the late Jeffrey Epstein, says his brother’s body exhibited “unexplained” injuries during the autopsy, according to Fox News. . .

Mark Epstein told Fox News that there are too many questions in connection with his late brother’s death and wants the Department of Justice to release all forensic materials relating to the autopsy for independent verification.

He said he isn’t ruling out murder as the cause of Jeffrey’s death and insisted that investigators aren’t entirely forthcoming with evidence for why they ruled out murder.

Fox News, which obtained a copy of the autopsy file, revealed three bone fractures in the late financier’s neck, contusions on both wrists, a left arm abrasion, and deep muscle hemorrhaging in his left shoulder muscle.

“Those are unexplained. Was he handcuffed and struggled? Was someone holding his wrists? The marks on his wrist are unexplained,” Epstein said. (Read more from “Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s Brother Believes He Was Likely Murdered” HERE)

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Katie Pavlich Ties ABC’s Epstein Cover-Up to Clintons, Stephanopoulos

By Daily Caller. Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich drew a straight line from ABC’s alleged quashing of a bombshell Jeffrey Epstein story to the network’s news anchor with ties to the Clintons.

Pavlich, who appeared Wednesday on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” suggested that ABC’s reluctance to cover a story that tied former President Bill Clinton and others to the late convicted pedophile could be summed up in just one name: veteran ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos.

(Read more from “Katie Pavlich Ties ABC’s Epstein Cover-Up to Clintons, Stephanopoulos” HERE)

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Report: Jeff Sessions to Announce 2020 U.S. Senate Run

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On Thursday, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expected to announce he will run the Senate seat he held for two decades, which is currently occupied by Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL).

Sessions will join a Republican field that includes former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL), Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R).

According to multiple reports, despite serving as U.S. Attorney General for the Trump administration, Sessions is expected to be opposed by President Donald Trump.

Sessions entry into the contest comes at the 11th hour with the Alabama Republican Party’s deadline to qualify for the primary ballot set at 5 p.m. local time on Friday.

The Alabama Republican also reportedly will make his run official on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Thursday.

(Read more from “Report: Jeff Sessions to Announce 2020 U.S. Senate Run” HERE)

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Media Triggered After Don Jr. Tweets About Alleged ‘Whistleblower’ Whose Name Has Been Public for Weeks

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Leftists experienced a mass meltdown on Wednesday after Donald Trump Jr. tweeted a Breitbart News article containing the alleged name of the “whistleblower” at the crux of the partisan impeachment inquiry, even though the name has been public for weeks.

RealClearInvestigations claimed in a report last week that Eric Ciaramella, an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, is the alleged “whistleblower” at the heart of the partisan impeachment inquiry, although his name had been floating around weeks prior to RealClearInvestigations’ report. The “whistleblower’s” legal team refused to confirm or deny his or her identity.

Nonetheless, the analyst is widely believed to be the “whistleblower” who sparked a political firestorm after expressing concerns over President Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, despite lacking firsthand knowledge of the conversation itself. . .

While mainstream media outlets have refused to identify the “whistleblower,” the name has been public. Despite that, outrage, particularly from the “whistleblower’s” lawyers and mainstream news outlets, continues to pour in:

(Read more from “Media Triggered After Don Jr. Tweets About Alleged ‘Whistleblower’ Whose Name Has Been Public for Weeks” HERE)

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Trump to Hire a Foreign Agent to Advise on Impeachment

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By Daily Caller. President Donald Trump is reportedly set to hire Pam Bondi to advise him on strategies for dealing with Democrats’ impeachment efforts, which relate to allegations that he and his attorney Rudy Giuliani improperly mixed politics and foreign affairs.

Foreign agent disclosures show that Bondi became a registered foreign agent in July for lobbying firm Ballard Strategies, a lobbying firm that also represented Halkbank, a Turkish government-controlled bank that played a role in an earlier effort where Trump allegedly made an improper request to help a Giuliani client.

Federal prosecutors charged Halkbank on Oct. 15 with fraud, money laundering and participation in a multi-billion dollar scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. Ballard Strategies also represented Halkbank.

“We terminated that relationship the same day or within 24 hours of their indictment,” Justin Sayfie, a Ballard spokesman, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

An Iranian-Turkish gold trader named Reza Zarrab pleaded guilty to related charges in October 2017 and testified against the CEO of Halbank, also alleging that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan knew of and supported the effort on behalf of Iran, Bloomberg reported. (Read more from “Trump to Hire a Foreign Agent to Advise on Impeachment” HERE)

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McConnell Says Trump Impeachment Trial ‘Would Not Lead to a Removal’ If Held Today

By NBC News. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell threw cold water on the impeachment process Tuesday, telling reporters that if a hypothetical Senate trial were held today, the upper chamber would not vote to convict President Donald Trump.

“I will say, I’m pretty sure how it’s likely to end: If it were today I don’t think there’s any question it would not lead to a removal,” the Kentucky Republican said. “So the question is how long does the Senate want to take? How long do the presidential candidates want to be here on the floor of the Senate instead of in Iowa and New Hampshire?” (Six senators, who would serve as jurors, are running in the Democratic presidential primary.)

“And all of these other related issues that may be going on at the same time, it’s very difficult to ascertain how long this takes,” McConnell added. “I’d be surprised if it didn’t end the way the two previous ones did with the president not being removed from office.”

A national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released this week found that a near-majority of Americans support Trump’s impeachment and removal from office while 46 percent said they do not. But 9 in 10 Republicans oppose the president’s removal from office, which might help him in the GOP-controlled Senate. (Read more from “McConnell Says Trump Impeachment Trial ‘Would Not Lead to a Removal’ If Held Today” HERE)

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Senate Unanimously Passes Bill Making Animal Cruelty a Federal Felony

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. . .The Senate unanimously passed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act, which criminalizes certain acts of animal cruelty.

The bipartisan bill, which was passed Tuesday afternoon, will now be sent to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.

“Passing this legislation is a major victory in the effort to stop animal cruelty and make our communities safer,” said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who sponsored the bill in the Senate along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “Evidence shows that the deranged individuals who harm animals often move on to committing acts of violence against people. It is appropriate that the federal government have strong animal cruelty laws and penalties.” . . .

“There is no place in a civilized society for maiming and torturing animals – period,” Blumenthal added. “Senator Toomey and I have spent years working to hold the barbaric individuals who commit these crimes accountable, and I’m glad that Congress is now finally sending our bill to the president’s desk to be signed into law.”

The bill is an expansion on the 2010 Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act, which made the creation and distribution of “animal crushing” videos illegal. The underlying acts, which were not included in the 2010 bill, are part of the PACT Act. (Read more from “Senate Unanimously Passes Bill Making Animal Cruelty a Federal Felony” HERE)

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New Numbers Highlight Just How Bad the Partisan Divide Is on Impeachment

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Democrats’ desire to drive President Donald Trump from office is higher than it was to remove President Richard Nixon 45 years ago, according to a new poll that highlights the deep partisan divide over Democrats’ current impeachment attempt.

In an October poll of U.S. adults conducted by Gallup, 87 percent of Democrats surveyed said that — based on what is currently known — Donald Trump should be impeached and removed from office. This is compared to just 71 percent of Democrats who wanted to remove President Richard Nixon from office just days before his 1974 resignation.

The comparison also finds a much higher percentage of Republicans are now opposed to the removal of Donald Trump than were to Nixon’s: 92 percent of surveyed Republicans opposed Trump removal in October, versus 59 percent in 1974. . .

A Gallup article accompanying the recent survey results notes that the wide partisan divide in public opinion on removing Trump sets this impeachment episode apart from those of Nixon and former President Bill Clinton.

“Though Republicans did not favor removing Nixon from office, enough of them did that Republican members of Congress had more latitude to vote against the party majority on impeachment,” the article notes. “As far as Democrats are concerned, their steadfast opposition to Trump throughout his presidency suggests they are unlikely to revise their opinions as the impeachment process unfolds.” (For more from the author of “New Numbers Highlight Just How Bad the Partisan Divide Is on Impeachment” please click HERE)

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Privacy Warning: Detective Permitted to Override Privacy Settings of 1.2 Million Users of DNA Site

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Last week, a Florida detective made a startling public announcement: a judge had ruled he could permit him to have access to the privacy settings of the 1.2 million users of GEDmatch, a personal genomics database and genealogy website that was used by police to identify a suspect in the Golden State Killer case in California in 2018.

Detective Michael Fields of the Orlando Police Department, determined to solve a decades-old case of a serial rapist, appealed to Judge Patricia Strowbridge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida to approve a warrant permitting him to override the privacy settings of GEDmatch’s users, according to The New York Times. Once Patricia Strowbridge consented, GEDmatch let Fields have access less than 24 hours later, according to Fields.

20 million people have uploaded their genetic profiles to consumer DNA sites, but the two major sites, Ancestry.com, which has 15 million users, and 23andMe, which boasts 10 million, have stated they will respect their customers’ privacy. The Times added, “GEDmatch, severely restricted police access to its records this year.”

After the judge’s decision had been rendered, NYU law professor Erin Murphy warned, “That’s a huge game-changer. The company made a decision to keep law enforcement out, and that’s been overridden by a court. It’s a signal that no genetic information can be safe.” She added, “I have no question in my mind that if the public isn’t outraged by this, they will go to the mother lode: the 15-million-person Ancestry database. Why play in the peanuts when you can go to the big show?”

Yaniv Erlich, the chief science officer at MyHeritage, a genealogy database, echoed, “They won’t stop here.” (Read more from “Privacy Warning: Detective Permitted to Override Privacy Settings of 1.2 Million Users of DNA Site” HERE)

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Report: Ex-Twitter Employees Charged for Spying for Saudi Arabia

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The Department of Justice announced on Wednesday charges against two former Twitter employees for allegedly spying for Saudi Arabia which analysts believe is the first time that the United States government has accused Saudi Arabia of spying in the United States.

The two former Twitter employees that were charged are Ahmad Abouammo, who reportedly is a U.S. citizen, and Ali Alzabarah, who is a Saudi citizen.

In a statement, the DOJ wrote that the “information could have been used to identify and locate the Twitter users who published these posts.”

Prosecutors alleged that Abouammo “spied on the accounts of three users — including one whose posts discussed the inner workings of the Saudi leadership – on behalf of the government in Riyadh,” The Washington Post reported. Abouammo was also charged for allegedly “falsifying an invoice to obstruct an FBI investigation.

Prosecutors accused Alzabarah of “accessing the personal information of more than 6,000 Twitter accounts in 2015 on behalf of Saudi Arabia,” The Post added. “One of those accounts belonged to a prominent dissident, Omar Abdulaziz, who later became close to Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who was killed by Saudi government agents last year.” (Read more from “Report: Ex-Twitter Employees Charged for Spying for Saudi Arabia” HERE)

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