1) The Johnson-Grassley report raises the many and disturbing conflicts of interests surrounding Hunter's biz dealings while Joe was veep. But it also makes clear that the Democratic nominee is not being straight with the public.
2) Joe Biden last year: "I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings." That's pretty definitive, right? Yet according to testimony from former Obama official Amos Hochstein, he briefed Joe on his concerns about Hunter/Burisma in October 2015... AND
3) "Shortly after his conversation with Vice President Biden, Hunter Biden contacted Hochstein and
asked to meet. According to Hochstein, Hunter became aware of Hochstein’s West Wing conversation with the Vice President, who had mentioned it to Hunter." (Page 17 of report)
4) So, Joe Biden was specifically briefed on the U.S. govs concerns about Hunter/Burisma, and he specifically brought up those concerns to his son. How does that comport with "I have never spoken"?? If Joe isn't asked about this at the debate, it will be journalistic malpractice.
5) The report similarly shows that despite former Sec of State John Kerry saying he had no knowledge of any of this, that in fact he too was briefed on Hunter. Seems a lot of people in Obama administration knew this was a problem, but nobody acted.
6) This is all relevant given Biden's claim he is the more ethical choice in this election. Voters might legitimately ask if the wink-nod approach to Hunter's wheeling-dealing will be business as usual in a Biden administration.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
1. This "omnibus" is one of the ugliest, least transparent bits of lawmaking I've ever seen--and that's saying something. It isn't just the spending, though the new domestic numbers are gross, given the trillions spent in the past few years.
2. It's also that Congress, in a new trick, is attaching dozens of pieces of stand-alone legislation to this--retirement changes; public lands management; healthcare policy; cosmetics regulation; electoral count act changes; horseracing rules.
3. Every one deserves a full debate and a roll call vote, so that Americans can see where their representatives stand. Instead, this monstrosity is cooked in a back room, and members can claim they had no choice but to vote against a shutdown--ducking accountability.
The GOP choice: Make way for a new generation of winning leaders, or stick with a guy who keeps losing Republicans key elections. wsj.com/articles/donal… via @WSJ
2) For those saying Trump wasn't on the ballot, c'mon. He was definitive in candidates chosen for major races who got trounced/beat. Bolduc/Oz/Dixon/Michels/Mastriano. The rallies clearly didn't help--tho might have hurt.
3) For those saying this is because McConnell/SLF didn't do enough, c'mon. SLF poured millions in to Trump candidates in Senate races-PA/NH/AZ/GA. $30 million in Ohio alone. One reason Vance won is because DeWine won by huge margin and pulled along voters.
1) The comment section for this piece is clocking a lot of liberal pushback, and their arguments provide great insight as to why the left likes this system..... wsj.com/articles/the-r… via @WSJ
2) It basically goes like this (I will decode): Our current two-party primary/election system is turning out "radicals" (ie, conservatives) that are bad for society (ie, liberal causes)....
3) Therefore we the people (ie, liberals funding these ranked choice initiatives) will impose upon all of you a voting system that guarantees more "moderate" "consensus" candidates (ie, politicians more likely to do what we on the left would like.)
1) I see @Liz_Cheney retweeted this. Someone ought to ask her how a conservative can justify a committee plan to rifle through the emails/voicemails/texts/calls of private citizens, including her colleagues--without giving them opportunity to litigate.
2) Last I knew, principled conservatives had issues with government that thinks it has a limitless right to secretly spy on its citizens--depriving them of the right to contest in court. Remember the whole FISA/Carter Page thing?
3) At least when Schiff pulled his secret subpoena stunt, he mainly obtained metadata--what phone number called what phone number, and when. The Jan. 6 snoops have asked companies to preserve a stunning amount of text/email/voicemail info, over a 10-month period.
2) The Jan. 6 Committee hardly has an obvious right to this information. We have laws protecting American privacy. I know it is asking a lot that reporters should do their homework, but they can start with this statute, 47 USC 222.
3) That law does allow telcos to release information when required by "law," but it is far from clear the Committee meets this test. Just last year the DC circuit threw into doubt whether House even has the power to enforce subpoenas.
2) The piece asserted that Mr. Johnson’s “drumbeat of distortions, false theories and lies reminds some Wisconsin Republicans” of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. It then quoted Sensenbrenner saying McCarthy's name.
3) But Sensenbrenner never said Johnson was like McCarthy. He’d made a general point about Wisconsin’s love of mavericks (he also talked about Dem Sen. Bill Proxmire--tho Times filed to mention that), and noted its voters appreciate that Johnson “thinks outside the box.”