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Top Ukraine Expert on National Security Council Plans to Testify; Official Set To Back Up Many Of Whistleblower’s Claims

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By Townhall. The National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman of the Army, who heard President Donald Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, plans to provide details of the call to impeachment investigators on Tuesday, the New York Times reported. Vindman will be the first White House official who listened in on the conversation to testify before investigators.

According to his written statement, he was in the Situation Room with other colleagues from the NSC and the office of the Vice President when the call took place. He said he had concerns about the call and reported them to the NSC’s lead counsel once it concluded.

“I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine,” Vindman said in his opening statement. “I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained.” (Read more from “Top Ukraine Expert on National Security Council Plans to Testify” HERE)

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White House Official Who Listened to Trump Call Set to Back up Many of Whistleblower’s Claims: Report

By Daily Caller. An official on the National Security Council will tell lawmakers Tuesday he reported concerns about President Donald Trump’s position toward Ukraine to a top White House lawyer, according to a draft of his statement.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, will be the first White House official appearing for a Democrat-led impeachment inquiry of Trump who listened in on the president’s July 25 phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president.

Vindman will say he was “worried” about the pressure Trump put on Zelensky to open investigations into Burisma Holdings, an energy company linked to Hunter Biden, according to his opening statement, which The NYT first reported.

Vindman, an Army officer who served in the Iraq War, will also tell lawmakers that he raised concerns twice with John Eisenberg, the top lawyer on the National Security Council. (Read more from “White House Official Who Listened to Trump Call Set to Back up Many of Whistleblower’s Claims: Report” HERE)

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Never Trump Moron Sides With ISIS Over Donald Trump

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Max Boot, the fedora adorning dimwit who pens political op-eds over at Washington Post, used his platform on Monday to denigrate the sitting president of the United States and show his support for the now-dead leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In his column titled, “Al-Baghdadi’s death could have been Trump’s finest hour. He messed it up anyway,” . . .

Here’s the key portion of Boot’s column:

A president who has never heard a shot fired in anger reveled in Baghdadi’s last moments, even claiming “he died like a coward … whimpering and crying and screaming all the way.” Trump could not possibly have heard “whimpering and crying” on the overhead imagery because there was no audio, and Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pointedly refused to confirm those details. The assertion that Baghdadi died as a coward was, in any case, contradicted by the fact that rather than be captured, he blew himself up.

(Read more from “Never Trump Moron Sides With ISIS Over Donald Trump” HERE)

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Trump Orders Federal Government to End All NYT, WaPo Subscriptions, General Calls Him ‘Mussolini’

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A decorated retired US Army general has compared Donald Trump to fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, and said the president’s actions over the past week are a watershed moment for America.

Mr Trump ordered his administration to cancel subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post at the start of the week, a move that Barry McCaffrey called ‘deadly serious’.

The four-star general wrote: “The White House Trump statement telling the entire Federal Government to terminate subscriptions to the NYT and Wash Post is a watershed moment in national history.

“No room for HUMOROUS media coverage. This is deadly serious. This is Mussolini.” (Read more from “Trump Orders Federal Government to End All NYT, WaPo Subscriptions, General Calls Him ‘Mussolini'” HERE)

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Trump Goes off on Campaign Spying, Accuses Obama of TREASON

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By Daily Wire. The Obama White House, President Trump allegedly told author Doug Wead, was engaged in a “treasonous” act when it was “spying on my campaign.”

“What they did was treasonous, OK? It was treasonous,” Trump told Wead in comments reported by the Washington Examiner and included in Wead’s upcoming book, “Inside Trump’s White House: The Real Story of His Presidency.”

“The interesting thing out of all of this is that we caught them spying on the election,” said Trump. “They were spying on my campaign. So you know? What is that all about? I have never ever said this, but truth is, they got caught spying. They were spying. Obama.”

Trump’s accusation echoes the language of Attorney General William Barr, who famously described the Obama administration’s surveillance of Trump associates as “spying” before slightly walking back the claim.

“I think spying did occur,” Barr told congressional investigators in testimony in April. “But the question is whether it was predicated — adequately predicated. I’m not suggesting it wasn’t adequately predicated, but I need to explore that. I think it’s my obligation. Congress is usually very concerned about intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies staying in their proper lane.” (Read more from “Trump Goes off on Campaign Spying: Obama’s ‘Treasonous’ Acts Against Me Even Worse Than We Thought” HERE)

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Donald Trump accuses Barack Obama of TREASON over 2016 campaign ‘spying’ as feds run ‘criminal investigation’ into origins of Russia probe

By Daily Mail. . .The Justice Department hasn’t said what crimes are being investigated or who its targets are. But calling the matter a ‘criminal’ probe instead of an internal administrative inquiry allows prosecutors to convene a grand jury and subpoena witnesses.

Among the witnesses who could face subpoenas are former FBI director James Comey and former CIA head John Brennan.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller presided over a 22-month probe that netted no significant prosecutions related to unsubstantiated claims that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian agents to tilt the 2016 contest in the president’s direction.

Attorney General Bill Bar and Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham recently traveled to Europe and gathered evidence about intelligence activities that led to the Mueller operation, according to a DOJ official.

Trump believes people inside what would become his administration worked quietly to hamstring him as he fought Hillary Clinton for the White House. (Read more from “Donald Trump accuses Barack Obama of TREASON over 2016 campaign ‘spying’ as feds run ‘criminal investigation’ into origins of Russia probe” HERE)

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New Poll: Here’s How Many Voters Want Trump Impeached

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The number of registered voters who oppose the impeachment and removal of U.S. President Donald Trump, at 49 percent, is the same as those who are in favor, the results of a new NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll published on Friday show.

“Americans are evenly divided on whether President Donald Trump should be impeached,” NBC News pointed out, adding:

Voters are sharply divided along party lines. Nine in 10 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are against impeachment and 89 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaners are in favor of impeachment. Independents who don’t lean toward either party are more split with a 53 percent majority saying Trump should be impeached and 44 percent saying he should not.

NBC News acknowledged the importance of keeping tabs on outliers, noting that the poll showed one in ten Democrats thinks Congress should not impeach Trump, and nearly the same number (nine percent) of Republicans believes he should be.

Nearly half of Democrats who believe Congress should not impeach and remove Trump and Republicans who do identify as moderate. (Read more from “New Poll: Here’s How Many Voters Want Trump Impeached” HERE)

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Only 7(!) Republican Senators Are Ruling out Removing Donald Trump

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Earlier this week, the conservative Daily Caller website asked the offices of each of the 53 Republican senators whether they opposed the impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump. Just seven of them said yes. . .

The seven who did confirm they oppose impeachment to the Caller are: Sens. James Inhofe (Oklahoma), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi), Thom Tillis (North Carolina), Roger Wicker (Mississippi), Mike Rounds (South Dakota), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Jerry Moran (Kansas). . .

Of the 46 Republican senators who didn’t expressly reject impeachment, almost half — 22 — simply declined to comment to the Caller. Which, in and of itself, is telling! Many of the others criticized House Democrats for their impeachment inquiry but failed to rule out the possibility of voting to remove him from office if it came to that. . .

“The picture coming out of it, based on the reporting that we’ve seen, I would say is not a good one,” Sen. John Thune, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate told CNN’s Ted Barrett Wednesday morning regarding the testimony of US diplomat Bill Taylor this week. “But I would say also that until we have a process that allows for everybody to see this in full transparency, it’s pretty hard to draw a hard and fast conclusions.” (Read more from “Only 7(!) Republican Senators Are Ruling out Removing Donald Trump” HERE)

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Gay Louis Vuitton Designer Calls Trump a Joke, Homophobic After President’s Visit

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A top Louis Vuitton designer called President Trump “a total joke” and accused him of homophobia after the president toured a new Louis Vuitton facility in Texas. Before his rally in Dallas Thursday, Mr. Trump attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new workshop in Alvarado, Texas, where the luxury brand will manufacture leather goods like handbags. The president praised the company for brining nearly 500 new jobs to the area, but one Louis Vuitton designer was not happy about the president’s endorsement.

Nicolas Ghesquière, the artistic director for Louis Vuitton’s women’s collections, posted his opinion on Instagram Sunday, writing: “Standing against any political action. I am a fashion designer refusing this association.” Ghesquière also included two hashtags: #trumpisajoke and #homophobia.

Ghesquière, who is openly gay, shared this message with an image of an album cover, “High Energy,” by Evelyn Thomas. The 80s dance anthem about love lifting spirits was featured on the compilation album “Gay Classics, Volume 1: Ridin’ the Rainbow” in 1995. The designer’s message was loud and clear, he did not want his work to be associated with Mr. Trump. . .

Louis Vuitton, which is owned by French conglomerate LVMH, recently signed the Trump administration’s Pledge to America’s Workers, CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reported. As part of the pledge, the brand has opened three workshops in the United States — two in California and the one in Johnson County, Texas — to manufacture goods labeled “Made in the USA.”

(Read more from “Gay Louis Vuitton Designer Calls Trump a Joke, Homophobic After President’s Visit” HERE)

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President Trump Announces ‘Permanent Ceasefire’ in Syria

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President Trump on Wednesday announced that Turkey and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria will begin a “permanent ceasefire” as he renewed his pledge that the United States military will leave the region.

“Let someone else fight over this long-bloodstained sand,” Trump said in the Diplomatic Room at the White House, accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien. “We were supposed to be there for 30 days. That was almost 10 years ago. So we’re there for 30 days, and now we’re leaving. It’s supposed to be a very quick hit, and let’s get out, and it was a quick hit except they stayed for almost 10 years,” he added.

Trump said that he heard on Wednesday morning that the ceasefire would begin. “Earlier this morning, the government of Turkey informed my administration that they would be stopping combat and their offensive in Syria and making the ceasefire permanent,” he said.

“I do believe it will be permanent,” he said. “How we define the word ‘permanent’ in that part of the world is somewhat questionable, we all know that, but I believe it will be permanent.” . . .

“I want to again thank everyone on the American team who helped achieve the cease fire in Syria, saved so many lives. Along with president [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan of Turkey, a man I’ve gotten to know very well, and a man who loves his country,” Trump said. “And in his mind, he’s doing the right thing for his country.” (Read more from “Trump Announces ‘Permanent Ceasefire’ in Syria Between Turkey and Kurds” HERE)

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Ironic Twist: Democrats’ Impeachment Probe Interfering in Ongoing Presidential Race

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By Breitbart. The House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into whether President Donald Trump attempted to influence the looming 2020 elections may interfere with the outcome of the presidential race in an ironic twist.

In other words, the Democrats are doing what they accuse Trump of trying to do: interfering in the ongoing presidential race. House Democrats launched the impeachment inquiry on September 24, months before the American public goes to the polls to elect the next president in November 2020.

Until the American public votes in November 2020, it will remain unclear whether the Democrats’ impeachment effort will hurt or benefit Trump. The impeachment probe, however, is already having an impact on the ongoing 2020 presidential election, potentially changing the minds of some voters.

Mainstream media outlets have acknowledged that impeachment could have collateral effects linked to the 2020 elections.

“Impeachment could drastically affect the 2020 election,” MSNBC conceded on September 25, a day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced the impeachment probe. (Read more from “Ironic Twist: Democrats’ Impeachment Probe Interfering in Ongoing Presidential Race” HERE)

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How the Impeachment Inquiry Could Affect the 2020 U.S. Election

By Quartz. . .Because 2020 is an election year, both sides will manage proceedings with an eye to the November poll. It is possible the house will vote before the end of the year: the decision to impeach Bill Clinton for lying under oath was made in the last three months of 1998.

Clinton was cleared by the Senate by the following February, so it is also possible the Senate will hold its own proceedings before most of the presidential primaries commence. It takes two-thirds of the Senate to remove a president from office, which has never happened.

While several Republican house representatives have expressed concern about the president’s behavior, the overwhelming majority of Republican politicians are either supporting him or remaining silent. . .

At the moment, Elizabeth Warren challenges Biden’s lead in the polls, with Bernie Sanders the only other candidate consistently supported by more than 10% of Democrats. None of the others in a crowded field—12 have qualified to take part in the next televised Democratic debate—have much support, and they will start to drop out once the primary season begins in February 2020.

If Biden continues to lose support, there is room for someone to emerge as the moderate front-runner, given that both Warren and Sanders represent the more radical instincts of the party. This is presumably why so many candidates are determined to continue campaigning, even when some of them rarely muster 2% in the polls. (Read more from “How the Impeachment Inquiry Could Affect the 2020 U.S. Election” HERE)

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WATCH: GOP Intelligence Committee Members Sound the Alarm on How Secretly Dems Are Leading the Impeachment Process

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Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee voiced their concern on Tuesday over how secretly Democrats have been conducting the impeachment process of President Donald Trump.

“This has been a closed-door, unfair, and unprecedented process. Tens of millions of Americans should know that their member of Congress has had no access to any of the transcripts. In fact, no member has been able to read every transcript,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) told reporters during the weekly GOP press conference.

Stefanik, a two term member of the Intelligence committee, revealed that to date, Democrats have only made the testimony from two witnesses even available to committee members — that of U.S. special representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker and U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Even then, Democrats have severely restricted the availability of transcripts.

“We were notified this week at our staff level that they would only be printing one transcript for every single member, whether you’re on the committee or not, and you would have to read it with a member of Democratic staff,” Stefanik explained. “That is unprecedented and unfair.”

The New York congresswoman further questioned how Democrats are able to voice their support for the impeachment proceedings when they do not even have access to the evidence. (Read more from “Watch: GOP Intelligence Committee Members Sound the Alarm on How Secretly Dems Are Leading the Impeachment Process” HERE)

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