When TMC and I are on a fact finding assignment (say, discovering who has the best Digby Scallops in Nova Scotia or what exactly is happening in the 3rd floor Ladies of the Five Fishermen) things frequently do not go quite according to agenda and we find ourselves re-evaluating our priorities and re-scheduling our activities.
Since we are generally on time for all our important appointments and eventually complete the vast majority of the goals we have set nobody much notices how drastically things have changed except us which is good because that’s what we want them to think. During the moments of desperation when decisions must be made we laugh and say, “Time for Plan B,” whether we have a clue or not and call it an adventure.
Here’s how long Pelosi should hold onto the articles of impeachment
By Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post
12/19/19
If McConnell and Republicans refuse to have an actual trial and three Republican senators are not brave enough to object, Pelosi could deploy a backup plan that also addresses Republicans’ professed concerns that they wait on witnesses Trump has blocked by assertion of a phony “absolute immunity” claim.
Pelosi can wait to transmit the articles, now that impeachment is complete, until such time as the cases involving senior officials wind their way through the courts and reach a final ruling (likely at the Supreme Court level where cases concerning production of documents now rest). In short, she can wait until the Supreme Court frees up former White House counsel Donald McGahn and former deputy national security adviser Charles Kupperman (whose case Bolton said he would rely upon for guidance) to testify. (If the Senate still won’t call them as witnesses, the House can hold additional hearings and supplement the record.)
Faced with a client frantic to get a Senate acquittal, Trump’s attorneys might then have a real incentive to get the courts to expedite a determination on witnesses. Who knows? By next year, Bolton may have cashed in on his book deal, published his tell-all and supplied us with his firsthand account of Trump’s extortion plot against Ukraine. Or even more likely, Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and his henchmen might have disclosed even more damning information putting Trump at the center of the scheme to force Ukraine to assist Trump’s campaign.
In short, Pelosi can give McConnell the chance to do the right thing. She can also give three Republicans the chance to do the right thing by insisting on fair rules. Ultimately, she can simply wait for the courts to do the right thing before entrusting the Senate with the articles of impeachment. We keep hearing from the Republicans that this whole process has been rushed. They might be pleased to learn Pelosi can slow things down. A lot.
Oh, what’s happening in the 3rd Floor Ladies of the Five Fishermen is that it’s supposedly the most haunted spot in the restaurant, which is in a re-purposed morgue that was used to receive Titanic victims. TMC who is sensitive to such things and a Lady says she didn’t notice much out of the ordinary.
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