The Fall of Roe v Wade: US Politics, June 2022

Former Trump acting attorney general Richard Donoghue and former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann claimed in video testimony that they did not mince words when they spoke to Jeffrey Clark.

“I said, good fucking — excuse me, sorry, fucking a-hole, congratulations, you just admitted your first step or act you would take as attorney general would be committing a felony and violating Rule 6(e),” Herschmann recalled telling Clark.

Donoghue claimed that he pointed out Clark is “not even competent” to serve as attorney general, citing Clark’s lack of experience as a criminal attorney and in conducting a criminal investigations.

Donoghue went on to claim that former White House counsel Pat Cipolllone called Clark’s never-sent draft letter that falsely declared the DOJ had found fraud a “murder-suicide pact” and said that he wanted nothing to do with

it was a very even argument, good arguments on all sides, practically a tie

Acceptance of a pardon is a de facto admission of guilt - if somebody is innocent, there's no reason to pardon them

Yeah, you can't be pardoned for nothing. There has to be a there there.

yeah, but they were just asking for them pardons, just throwing that out there as an idea. no big deal, just nice to have the promise of a pardon. you know. just in case...someone thinks you did some crimes and can prove that, somehow

who among does not have a couple pardons in their back pockets? when i meet important people i try to get them pretty much immediately. they'll be like "bla bla bla bla, i'm rich and important!" and i'll say, "beg your pardon?". 9 times out of 10 they heed my request, which i interpret as granting of a pardon, if that comes up in my life for some reason.

"excuse me, sorry, fucking a-hole, congratulations" for July thread title.

Must be so weird to be all these behind the scenes career politicians and lawyers who spent their entire lives leading up to this moment where all these crooks and liars and idiots just swooped in and knee-capped their aspirations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwOAGRWDnGc

Former acting deputy attorney General Richard Donoghue testified that he wanted to “cut through the noise” during a Dec. 27, 2020 meeting with Trump by being “very blunt” that the then-President’s bogus claims of election fraud were “simply not true.”

After reiterating that Trump’s claims of massive election fraud lacked credibility, Donoghue noted that although there were “isolated incidents” of fraud, none of them were enough to question the results in any state.

Donoghue then claimed that Trump told him: “Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”

these would likely be some of the same republican congressmen who were asking for pardons, and later today will be telling everyone that they had no idea that their names were connected with a pardon and had nothing to do with it

“Someone broke into my account and sent an email asking for a pardon”

All these seditious dorks, isn't this spitball approach of just trying all sorts of stupid shit to see what sticks proof that they knew they didn't have a legal basis? Which is proof of criminal intent?

"If we didn't succeed, how can it possibly be a crime?"

whoa.. Sean Penn is attending the hearing

https://movie-fanatic-res.cloudinary.com/iu/s--5ejdNj7B--/t_full/cs_srgb,f_auto,fl_strip_profile.lossy,q_auto:420/v1364990932/jeff-spicoli.jpg

"You dick!"

some of the cronies outside of DOJ, outside of government entirely, I think, drafted a memo that they hoped to have DOJ send out, under DOJ's letterhead.

I know that happens constantly at a state level. ALEC basically writes the legislation of many red states, verbatim.

is that common at all within DOJ, to have an outside source draft a memo for them? The guy testifying now says that was "very unusual", but how "very unusual" is that? hopefully "very, very very unusual", perhaps 4 or 5 verys

looooooool remember when Trump wanted Barr to establish a special counsel to investigate the "stolen election", and barr refused to do it? trump had promised SIDNEY POWELL she would be that special counsel! this is sooooooooo duuuuuumb lol jfc

imagine putting sidney powell in charge of anything!!! anything at all!!!

is that common at all within DOJ, to have an outside source draft a memo for them?

In a word, no.

it's satisfying to see them exposed and humiliated (for now), but really, all of this is a giant warning sign. you have to be THIS bad in order to finally face any accountability whatsoever for trying to steal the election in plain sight. and even then, it takes thousands of people storming a capitol and a bunch of white nationalists trying to murder pence before it even gets close to the point where they might be caught. this is a giant "do whatever the fuck you want, it's barely impossible to get caught" warning sign

is it barley possible to get caught or barely impossible to get caught? the typo speaks to how unlikely it is

barley possible = Best Brew Pub

"you guys may not be following the internet the same way i do" is my vote for next thread title. the worst person in the entire world said it

Yeah, my first thought was that was a quote for the ages.

that's the primary role of the Commander in Chief, keeping his eyes on the World Wide Web to make sure there's no funny business

one thing I'm appreciating about these hearings is it's at least dismantling the usual Trump defense: "he's just a dumb asshole who doesn't know what laws he's breaking", seems like everyone told him this was idiotic and highly illegal and he's just like "yeah so what"

This is … really something.

https://i.imgur.com/lth3LN9.png

it's just a minor thing, but Trump's team was so sure that Clark (a complete fool, getting clowned by everyone because he was so obviously incompetent) was going to replace Rosen at DOJ that they indicated so on the call log

that's the primary role of the Commander in Chief, keeping his eyes on the World Wide Web to make sure there's no funny business

World War 2 was going very badly for the allies. Suddenly, FDR noticed a theory on the internet about how the italians had tampered with the election in the united states. somehow, no one in the world had taken this theory secretly, until FDR noticed and brought it to the attention of his subordinates. he truly was the smartest, best man in the entire world

notice the timing of that call from Clark. this shit is why marijuana gets a bad name

I went from morning drive-thru cashier to CEO of McDonalds... it can happen

“I believe I should be on the pardon list, if …”

the list just came out. so SHOCKING to see names like Gaetz, Brooks, MJT, Gohmert, Biggs asking for everyone!

Wow, no one would ever suspect those other people because they have such good reputations

Tbf, Gaetz thought the pardon would be for other stuff too...

it feels like there should be an avalanche, any minute. a bunch of consequences, gears in motion. something happening, people leaving congress, whatever. something.

somehow, i think that tomorrow we'll wake up and it will be more of the same

xp yeah, they said he was asking about it back in Dec. guy needs a blanket pardon more than most

that little soundbite of Clark pleading the 5th, but also asserting 'executive privilege'? that was insane

Basically admitting he was working as personal counsel for the President, rather than DOJ

everyone in trump's orbit made that decision on some level. they all chose to serve trump and seek personal gain at the expense of the rest of the country

the list just came out. so SHOCKING to see names like Gaetz, Brooks, MJT, Gohmert, Biggs asking for everyone!

also Scott Perry (R-PA, up and comer whose name i don't recognize yet)

here's how it went down, for those who missed it:

White House officials testified that Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs, Gohmert, and Perry wanted pardons, and Jordan and Greene were curious about them as well. pic.twitter.com/qzRpwCbVaB

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 23, 2022

'pardon curious'

Lol

Clark pled the 5th more than 125 times during his deposition

politicians will look up and shout 'PARDON US!'...and I'll look down and whisper 'Lol'.

When someone on the ‘left’ side of the Democratic party is publicly making pronouncements like this, you know that the Overton Window has moved so far right that the party is completely irredeemable. Imho.

Law enforcement are often paid less than a living wage, and that is wrong.

We must raise pay for officers and address violent crime as we work to build community trust and foster law enforcement accountability.

— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) June 23, 2022

hey cool if we raise their pay will they stop robbing civilians via civil forfeitures?

lol no of course not, only now instead of paying rent it will pay for racing stripes

you hate to see it, but that is a hard needle to thread in Georgia (v much incl Atlanta)

Yeah, Atlantans (especially, let's say, north of I-20) are squawking mightily about crime. Kemp is making it a campaign issue and, of course, branding the Democrats as "soft on crime."

A thoughtful approach would not default to "more police," but this is politics.

I get it. It’s still shameful.

Countering "soft on crime" with "we love cops, don't we folks" is an incredibly ineffective strategy.

She did have the wherewithal to pair better pay with community trust and police accountability.