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ODNI Whistleblower Complaint: The Next ConFraudUS? [UPDATE-4]

September 23, 2019/129 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, Congress, Trump Administration /by Rayne

[NB: Check the byline. A new Ukraine-oriented timeline appears at the bottom of the text. Updates will be noted in the text or at the bottom of the post. /~Rayne]

In my last post about the whistleblower complaint we were left with unresolved questions, including:

Q1 — What constitutes an “urgent concern” validated by the Intelligence Community Inspector General as credible?
Q2 — What constitutes an unlawful act that would compel a whistleblower to file a complaint if the president can declassify information at will?
Q3 — What kind of unlawful act characterized as an “urgent concern” could occur as a “promise” in communications with a foreign leader?
Q4 — How does the existing timeline frame this “promise”?
Q5 — Who is the “higher authority” who ordered the ADNI not to turn over the whistleblower complaint to the HPSCI, obstructing investigatory oversight?

Since then the Washington Post published another article linking the complaint to a phone call about Ukraine. It only partially answered our questions.

A1 — We have to assume the criteria the IC IG used to determine the concern as credible will eventually be revealed; the House is already asking about the determination. We still do not know what about the complaint constituted an “urgent concern” though the use of our foreign policy to further a presidential re-election campaign is definitely a concern.
A2 — The corrupt acts, based on WaPo’s two articles so far, appear to be

- conspiracy
- solicitation of bribery or extortion
- violation of campaign finance laws (receiving a thing of value from a foreign entity)
- misappropriation of federal funds for personal campaign use
- self-dealing (not a crime per se but an abuse of power)

De-classification of information doesn’t appear to be involved so far.

A3 — The “promise,” depending on what it is, could foment increased hostilities against a NATO ally or allies, unless there was another quid pro quo involved intended to offset and tamp down friction. If Trump promised to deliver financial aid to Ukraine only on completion of solicited performance by Ukraine’s president, was there another promise between Trump and Putin that Ukraine would not be punished for receiving the financial aid? Did a second promise make this situation a more “urgent concern,” or was it the risk of hostilities that did so?
A4 — The timeline appears flexible but dependent upon Ukraine both delivering to Trump’s agent, Rudy Giuliani, and within a possible budget and/or campaign deadline.
A5 — Obviously the “higher authority” is Trump or someone who reports directly to Trump, now that we know he’s the one who badgered Zelensky eight times in a single phone call. Authority doesn’t go any higher.

We still have open, unresolved questions. An investigation could answer them (although Trump and his henchman Rudy Giuliani appear intent on dumping it all out in the open on their own).

An impeachment inquiry would work best because it would have the constitutional clout necessary to overcome obstruction this administration has repeatedly demonstrated in response to other subpoenas to non-impeachment related inquiries.

And an impeachment inquiry is wholly appropriate to the overarching criminal behavior we see unfolding in this case: yet another conspiracy to defraud the United States, this time by conspiring with Ukraine’s president to obtain illegal foreign aid for campaign purposes using taxpayer money.

There are no more rational, non-corrupt excuses the House Democratic leadership can offer for failing to move directly to an impeachment inquiry.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Timeline — this version includes foreign policy items related to Ukraine in indigo blue font; some may reflect the tensions between Ukraine and Russia. This timeline is subject to additions/revisions.

19-AUG_2016 — Ukrainian journalist and member of parliament Serhiy Leshchenko revealed secret payments outlined in the ‘black ledger of the Party of Regions’ showing payments made by the former pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych to Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

________

10-MAY-2017 — Trump met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office.

15-MAY-2017 — Washington Post reported Trump revealed code word level classified information to Lavrov and Kislyak during Oval Office meeting. The information covered ISIL’s bomb-making capabilities and may have exposed allies’ intelligence gathering means and methods.

XX-MAY-2017 — Decision made to exfiltrate key Russian asset. Unclear exactly when decision made or when exfiltration occurred, only that it happened after the Oval Office meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak, and before the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

7/8-JUL-2017 — Trump meets Putin at G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

11-JUL-2017 — European Union’s 28 member states formally endorsed the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, effective September 1.

30-OCT-2017 — Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign manager, indicted.

________

09-APR-2018 — John Bolton begins as National Security Adviser.

30-APR-2018 — U.S. State Department confirmed that Washington delivered thirty-five Javelin anti-tank launchers to Ukraine.

02-MAY-2018 — Ukraine had ceased cooperation with the Special Counsel investigation, according to NYT; “‘In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials,’ one Ukrainian lawmaker says. ‘We shouldn’t spoil relations with the administration.'” Ukraine had also halted its money laundering investigation into former President Viktor Yanukovych, who may have used stolen Ukrainian taxpayer funds to pay convicted former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort to aid him in winning in Ukraine.

15-MAY_2018 — Russia’s President Putin opened a new bridge linking southern Russia to Crimea; Ukraine’s president Poroshenko said it was an attempt to legitimize the occupation of Crimea while Ukrainian critics said the bridge project violates international law. The bridge was built following the illegal 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia.

16-JUL-2018 — U.S.-Russia Summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland; Trump meets with Putin.

XX-JUL-2018 — Coats expressed opinion differing from Trump’s after Helsinki summit. Rumors began about Trump replacing Coats.

09-OCT-2018 — Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley announced her resignation; effective date 31-DEC-2018. [UPDATE-1]

11-OCT-2018 — Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople recognized the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, praised by Ukraine but protested by Russia. The move by the patriarchate heightened tensions between the two nation-states.

25-NOV-2018 — Russia seized three Ukrainian navy ships, injuring six crew after firing on them in the Kerch Straits of the Black Sea near Crimea. The attack violated a 2003 treaty which designated the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov as shared territorial waters. US representative Nikki Haley called the incident an “outrageous violation of sovereign Ukrainian territory” during an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting.

26-NOV-2018 — Ukraine implemented martial law for 30 days in response to the Kerch Straits event, due to concerns over a Russian invasion.

26-DEC-2018 — Martial law in Ukraine ended, to allow adequate time before the country’s elections.

31-DEC-2018 — Volodymyr Zelensky, a TV producer who starred in a series playing the role of President of Ukraine, announced his candidacy for Ukraine’s presidency.

________

29-JAN-2019 — Coats testified before Senate Intelligence Committee; he said North Korea “is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities,” in contrast to Trump’s claims that Kim Jong-un has committed to denuclearization.

XX-FEB-2019 — Trump discussed replacements for DNI.

05-MAR-2019 — U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch criticized Ukraine’s record on corruption; she noted the country’s high court’s decision weakens Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau.

20-MAR-2019 — The Hill’s John Solomon interviewed Ukraine’s prosecutor general Yuriy Lutsenko; Lutsenko claimed Amb. Yovanovitch gave him a do-not-prosecute list during their first meeting. State Department denied this claim in an email to Radio Free Europe.

~28-MAR-2019 — In ‘early 2019’, Giuliani met with Ukraine’s prosecutor general Yuriy Lutsenko in New York (exact date TBD).

31-MAR-2019 — Ukraine’s first run-off presidential election narrowed down the field to the incumbent Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelensky.

21-APR-2019 — Volodymyr Zelensky won Ukraine’s presidential election over Petro Poroshenko, 73.22% to 24.45% of the vote. 12% of the population were unable to vote due to the conflict with Russia in Donbass region.

21-APR-2019 Trump called and congratulated Zelensky; the call was noted in a late evening/early morning tweet by U.S. Special Representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker:

President Trump called to congratulate Volodymyr Zelenskyy (@zeteam_official) for his electoral victory and the Ukrainian people for a peaceful & democratic election. We will continue to support 🇺🇦’s efforts to restore its territorial integrity and counter 🇷🇺 aggression. https://t.co/ShBOWU1rga

— Kurt Volker (@SpecRepUkraine) April 22, 2019 [UPDATE-3]

25-APR-2019 — After two years of indecision, former VP Joe Biden formally launched his campaign for POTUS. [UPDATE-4]

07-MAY-2019 — Amb. Yovanovitch was recalled — removed from her position.

09-MAY-2019 — Giuliani said he intended to meet with President-elect Zelensky in Ukraine to push for an investigation into the release of negative information about Paul Manafort as well as former VP Joe Biden’s efforts to remove Ukraine’s general prosecutor. [UPDATE-2 — date and link changed from CNN 10-MAY to NYT 09-MAY (byline: Ken Vogel)]

10-MAY-2019 — Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) made an official request of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to investigate Giuliani’s influence operation in Ukraine. [UPDATE-2]

11-MAY-2019 — Giuliani reverses his decision and says he won’t go to Ukraine to meet with Zelensky.

20-MAY-2019 — Date Zelensky assumes office of presidency. [UPDATE-2]

21-MAY-2019 — Lawyer and film producer Andriy Yermak appointed aide to Ukraine’s Zelensky.

24-MAY-2019 — Trump issued a directive allowing Attorney General William Barr to declassify any intelligence that sparked the opening of the Russia investigation.

11-JUN-2019 — Ukraine’s president Zelensky signed a motion for Ukraine’s parliament to dismiss prosecutor general Yuriy Lutsenko, an ally of former president Poroshenko. Lutsenko resisted, saying he would step down after the July 21 parlimentary elections.

11-JUN-2019 In an interview released on Thursday, June 13, Trump told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos,

“I think you might want to listen, there isn’t anything wrong with listening,” Trump continued. “If somebody called from a country, Norway, [and said] ‘we have information on your opponent’ — oh, I think I’d want to hear it.”

20-JUN-2019 — In retaliation for downing a U.S. drone, Trump approved strikes on Iran which were abruptly aborted.

~11-JUL-2019 — Date TBD. On or about this time, Giuliani had a phone meeting with Zelensky’s adviser, Andriy Yermak.

22-JUL-2019 — Zelensky’s Servant of the People wins Ukraine’s parliamentary elections.

24-JUL-2019 – Special Counsel Robert Mueller appears before House Judiciary Committee. The same day that GOP Rep. John Ratcliffe (TX-4) used his time to question Mueller to accuse Mueller of breaking DOJ regulations; CNN reported that “Ratcliffe has been under consideration for a job within the Trump administration, sources told CNN, including an intelligence or national security role.”

25-JUL-2019 — Trump talked with Ukraine’s Zelensky on the phone “to congratulate him on his recent election.” Ukraine’s English-language readout of this call said Trump discussed “investigations into corruption cases that have hampered interaction between Ukraine and the U.S.A.” (This call is the subject of whistleblower complaint.)

28-JUL-2019 — Coats’ departure and John Ratcliffe nominated as replacement announced by Trump via Twitter.

02-AUG-2019 — Ratcliffe withdraws from consideration.

~02-AUG-2019 — Trump administration asked ODNI for a list of all ODNI employees at the federal government’s top pay scale who have worked there for 90 days or more. This was believed to be a search for a new Director of ODNI; others speculated there was an impending personnel shakeup. [UPDATE-2]

08-AUG-2019 — Primary Deputy Director DNI Sue Gordon resigned effective 15-AUG-2019, without additional prior notice, as ordered. Resignation letter without handwritten note.

Copy of former PDDNI’s resignation letter with handwritten cover: ODNI_LTR_08AUG2019

11-AUG-2019 — Giuliani debriefing with two State Department diplomats about his meeting with Ukraine’s Zelensky aide in Madrid, Spain.

12-AUG-2019 — IC IG received the whistleblower compaint, via Schiff’s 10-SEP letter.

15-AUG-2019 — Coats’ last day as DNI.

22-AUG-2019 — Giuliani said the U.S. State Department helped set up his meeting(s) with Zelensky’s aide Yermak, assisting “his efforts to press the Ukrainian government to probe two prominent Democratic opponents of the president: former Vice President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee.”

26-AUG-2019 — IC IG transmitted the whistleblower complaint to the Acting DNI, via Schiff’s 10-SEP letter.

26-AUG-2019 — GOP appointee Matthew Peterson resigned from Federal Election Commission; effective date of resignation 31-AUG-2019. FEC no longer has a quorum with his departure. [UPDATE-1]

27-AUG-2019 — Russia barred a visa for entry to Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) for a trip planned in early September. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) received clearance and a visa, however. Johnson, Murphy and Lee are all members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Johnson is the subcommittee chair for Europe & Regional Security Cooperation. The three senators voted in favor of the Russia sanctions bill. [UPDATE-2]

28-AUG-2019 — John Bolton met with Ukraine’s Zelensky (video). [UPDATE-2 – date revised, video link added.]

28-AUG-2019 — Bolton met his counterpart, Oleksandr Danyliuk, Ukraine’s head of the National Defense and Security Council; Bolton told Danyliuk that the U.S. support for Ukraine against Russian-backed separatists in contested eastern Ukraine would ‘intensify’. [UPDATE-2]

Late AUG-2019 — U.S. suspends $250M military aid for Ukraine – exact date TBD. Reuters’ report on 29-AUG-2019 said ‘may’ suspend’. [UPDATE-2 – remove and replace with following item.]

29-AUG-2019 — Trump stalled the $250M military assistance provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative by asking Bolton and Defense Secretary Mark Esper to review the package. Defense Department had already reviewed the aid and supported it. [UPDATE-2]

29-AUG-2019 — Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko submitted his resignation.

30-AUG-2019 — Trump tweeted a high-resolution satellite image of Iran’s failed Safir SLV launch while claiming the U.S. was not involved. The image may have been classified and ‘insta-declassified’ by Trump.

01-SEP-2019 — VP Mike Pence flew to Poland and met with Poland’s president Andrzej Duda and Ukraine’s Zelensky, discussing security and energy issues (remarks issued by White House). Per pool reporter, the meeting included National Security Adviser John Bolton and Energy Secretary Rick Perry; Pence avoided answering media questions whether the Trump administration would still allocate $250M for security aid.

01/02-SEP-2019 — US Special Rep. for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalizad met with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani in Kabul where the Taliban, Afghan government and the U.S. had “reached an agreement in principle” toward an eventual “total and permanent cease-fire.”

02-SEP-2019 — During news conference after the meeting with Duda and Zelensky in response to a question by AP’s Jill Colvin, Pence denied speaking about Joe Biden with Zelensky:

“Well, on the first question [about Biden], the answer is no. But we — with President Zelensky yesterday, we discussed — we discussed America’s support for Ukraine and the upcoming decision the President will make on the latest tranche of financial support in great detail.”

02-SEP-2019 — Deadline for ADNI to forward the complaint to Intelligence committees of Congress passes without a referral, via Schiff’s 10-SEP letter.

03-SEP-2019 — Sen. Murphy and Johnson began a 5-day trip to Serbia, Kosovo, Ukraine, and Germany. [UPDATE-2]

03-SEP-2019 — Russian media outlet Tass reported that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said the U.S. and Taliban “insist that Russia must be present in one capacity or another at the possible signing of the agreements that the parties are working on now.”

04-SEP-2019 — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to sign the agreement with the Taliban.

07-SEP-2019 — Russia and Ukraine completed a major prisoner swap; some of the prisoners included Ukrainian sailors seized during the Kerch straits incident.

09-SEP-2019 — CNN broke story of a CIA asset extracted from Russia in 2017; followed by NYT on the 9th (and then NBC’s Ken Dilanian appears at the asset’s house…)

09-SEP-2019 — Trump asked for Bolton’s resignation and tweeted about it the next morning.

09-SEP-2019 — Intelligence Community Inspector General (IC IG) sent a letter to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, notifying it of a whistleblower complaint which it had determined to be credible and a matter of “urgent concern.”

10-SEP-2019 — Bolton tells Fox’s Brian Kilmeade by text that he’d quit.

10-SEP-2019 — HPSCI Rep. Adam Schiff requested the full, unredacted complaint, the IC IG’s determination about the complaint, and all documentation of ODNI’s action regarding this complaint, including correspondence with the White House.

11-SEP-2019 — Bloomberg reported Bolton pushed back Monday-Tuesday at Trump over Iran sanctions; Bolton wanted maximum pressure while Trump wanted to encourage a meeting with Iran’s Rouhani later in September.

12-SEP-2019 — Schiff and ADNI “discussed at length” the need to protect the whistleblower from any retaliation, including if the whistleblower subsequently comes forward to the committee with his/her concerns, via Schiff’s 13-SEP letter.

13-SEP-2019 — Zelensky said in a press conference that not only was the U.S. going to send $250M in military aid but an additional $140M.

13-SEP-2019 — ODNI declined the request, claiming the request as “it involves confidentially and potentially privileged communications by persons outside the Intelligence Community.”

13-SEP-2019 — HPSCI subpoenaed acting DNI Joseph Maguire for materials declined by ODNI.

17-SEP-2019 — Deadline, materials responsive to subpoena must be turned over by this date; Maguire failed to do so.

19-SEP-2019 — Date Maguire was compelled to appear before Congress in a public hearing. The Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson appeared before the House Intel Committee in a closed door session.

19-SEP-2019 — Giuliani denied asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden moments before admitting that he had done just that.

20-SEP-2019 — Senator Murphy published a press release about the whistleblower complaint, renewing his call for a Senate Foreign Services Committee investigation into Giuliani’s efforts to influence Ukraine. [UPDATE-2]

20-SEP-2019 — Russian armed forces bombarded front along western edge of contested Donbas territory.

22-SEP-2019 — During an interview on Meet the Press, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin can’t explain where the additional $140M in aid for Ukraine came from.

22-SEP-2019 — In front of press on the White House lawn, Trump said he had spoken with Zelensky about Biden on July 25 in a congratulatory call. Later in the day he indicated he might allow a transcript of the call to be published.

23-SEP-2019 — TK

Future dates:

26-SEP-2019 — Maguire is scheduled to testify before the House Intelligence Committee in a public hearing.

30-SEP-2019 — Federal fiscal year ends on September 30.

Much of the timeline in black font above is the crowdsourced timeline from September 14-15. Note how much of this latest version is Ukraine-Russia, and how little we saw going on as we considered what a whistleblower might have filed a complaint about after July 25.

Is it at all possible there are other influence operations underway at the same time to which we are equally blind, asking for help from other nation-states to shape the outcome of Trump’s 2020 run for re-election?

If you have any relevant events with dates which should be added to this timeline, please share them in comments. I’m especially interested in dates nailing down Giuliani’s meetings with any Ukrainians including former prosecutor general Lutsenko and Zelensky aide Yermak.

The sad part of all the noise generated by Trump (corruption!-corruption!-corruption!) and Giuliani (Biden!-Biden!-Biden!) is that they are actively trying to corrupt an ally’s president who ran on an anti-corruption platform, possibly unwitting collateral damage.

If Zelensky agreed to a quid pro quo knowing that Trump was using him to further his 2020 re-election, Zelensky is compromised.

_____

UPDATE-1 — items added/changed noted in the timeline.

UPDATE-2 — 3:45 p.m. EDT 24-SEP-2019 — items added/changed noted in the timeline.

UPDATE-3 — items added/changed noted in the timeline.

UPDATE-4 — 12:00 a.m. EDT 25-SEP-2019 — item added, noted in timeline.

ODNI Whistleblower Complaint: Shoes Dropping All Over the Place [UPDATE-2]

September 19, 2019/325 Comments/in Congress, Foreign Policy, Intelligence, Trump Administration /by Rayne

[NB: Check the byline. Updates are anticipated and will appear within the timeline or at the bottom of the text. /~Rayne]

In an effort to guess at the likely subject of a whistleblower complaint, the emptywheel community started a crowdsourced timeline of events surrounding the complaint received by the Intelligence Community Office of Inspector General on August 12.

As noted in the timeline, the House Intelligence Committee subpoena issued last Friday required the acting Director of National Intelligence (ADNI) Joseph Maguire to report to Congress about the complaint by Tuesday, September 17; failure to comply would require an appearance before Congress on Thursday, September 19. Maguire did not report as expected.

However dates for the ADNI to testify before the House have now been arranged:

New: “The Intelligence Community Inspector General (IC IG) has agreed to appear before the House Intelligence Committee for a briefing on the handling of the whistleblower complaint tomorrow morning, September 19, in closed session at 9:00 am.” – @RepAdamSchiff

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) September 18, 2019

. . .

“The Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire has agreed to testify in open session before the Committee next Thursday, September 26 at 9:00 am.”

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) September 18, 2019

[emphasis mine]

The Washington Post reported more details Wednesday evening about the whistleblower complaint:

Trump’s communications with foreign leader are part of whistleblower complaint that spurred standoff between spy chief and Congress, former officials say

One bit stood out for me in the lede:

The whistleblower complaint that has triggered a tense showdown between the U.S. intelligence community and Congress involves President Trump’s communications with a foreign leader, according to two former U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

Emphasis mine. Two former officials.

Speculation about the whistleblower’s identity is rampant across social media. Some suggest Fiona Hill, former Special Assistant to the President and National Security Council Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs, as the whistleblower; her planned departure in August was announced June 18. Others suggest an as-yet unnamed low-level analyst.

Marcy tweeted earlier,

What if the whistleblower complaint is not Sue Gordon but John Bolton?

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) September 19, 2019

It’s not outside the realm of possibility. Bolton seems in a mood to burn it all down, ‘shanking’ POTUS during a Trumpists-dense luncheon on Wednesday. But given the “two former U.S. officials” and former DNI Dan Coats interruption of a meeting to ask his deputy Sue Gordon to resign, I wonder if both Coats and Gordon resigned so they would be able to testify before Congress while escaping the appearance of being compromised by unethical or unlawful acts?

Important points for consideration:

What constitutes an “urgent concern” validated by the Intelligence Community Inspector General as credible?
What constitutes an unlawful act that would compel a whistleblower to file a complaint if the president can declassify information at will?
What kind of unlawful act characterized as an “urgent concern” could occur as a “promise” in communications with a foreign leader?
How does the existing timeline frame this “promise”?
Who is the “higher authority” who ordered the ADNI not to turn over the whistleblower complaint to the HPSCI, obstructing investigatory oversight?

Promising to violate or ignore violation of bipartisan sanctions against Russia would be unlawful, but would this be an “urgent concern”?

Was there instead an unlawful act with regard to the doxxing of the exfiltrated Russian asset?

Or was there a promise related to surveillance of North Korea?

Did the tensions between the U.S. and Iran spawn an unlawful promise?

There are probably dozens more scenarios that might fit. They may be related to items we didn’t add to the crowdsourced timeline, like these items directly related to North Korea:

28-FEB-2019 — Trump cut short the two-day summit with North Korea for no clear reason.

11-JUN-2019 — Trump received a “beautiful letter” from North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.

09-AUG-2019 — Trump received another “very beautiful letter” from Kim.

This one related to Iran:

03-SEP-2019 — New sanctions were placed on Iran after Trump administration claimed it was developing ballistic missile technology using its communications satellite program as cover.

And these related to Russia:

26-JUN-2019 — Trump told reporters that his anticipated discussion with Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Japan was “none of your business.”

31-JUL-2019 — Trump and Putin talked over the phone about Siberian wildfires and trade.

29-AUG-2019 — Trump’s trip to Poland canceled, ostensibly to monitor Hurricane Dorian though he ended up playing golf instead at his N. Virginia course. Was he avoiding conflict over increased Russian troop presence at the administrative border between Russian-occupied South Ossetia and Georgia? (Georgia has been pursuing NATO membership but is not yet a member state.)

Time will tell what other events were needed to pick out the narrative behind the complaint. One more data point may flesh out the nature of the challenge:

One final datapoint: @RepAdamSchiff stated publicly that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was very pointedly NOT able to say the matter wasn’t an issue under investigation by the House Intel Committee. Trump-Russia is very much an issue of active inquiry.

— Ned Price (@nedprice) September 19, 2019

Is the complaint about a Trump-Russia issue alone, or does it also include a promise related to one of the other countries in the timeline — like North Korea or Iran?

Share your thoughts in comments with supporting content.

UPDATE — 19-SEP-2019 9:23 A.M. —

The ADNI should be in a closed door session with the House Intelligence Committee at this time.

Important to note that the IC IG is a Trump appointee — Michael Atkinson. He’s responsible for the determination that the unidentified whistleblower’s complaint was credible and an “urgent concern.”

ADNI broke the law as Amee Vanderpool noted here because the complaint was deemed credible:

50 USC § 3033(k)(5)(C): the DNI is required to transmit details on “urgent complaints” to congressional intel committees w/in 7 days-only exemption is if the complaint isn’t “credible.”

If Schiff’s claims that the complaint is credible are correct, the acting DNI broke the law. pic.twitter.com/xgmgEr7ZzK

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) September 14, 2019

Very, very odd how CNBC’s website news crawl makes zero mention of this unfolding story even though an NBC story confirmed WaPo’s report last night.

UPDATE — 19-SEP-2019 8:20 P.M. —

This is like a really cheap game of Clue. It wasn’t Professor Plum in the Library with a Lead Pipe.

It was Trump about Ukraine with a phone call to Zelensky, according to the latest report by WaPo.

(Although Trump does look like a crappy version of Colonel Mustard.)

Explains why the suggestions the matter was part of an ongoing investigation; the House was already investigating whether Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani were trying to persuade President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to help dig up dirt on Joe Biden to help Trump’s 2020 campaign.

Now we need to know if the $250M aid to Ukraine was dependent on this matter, as well as a meeting later this month between Trump and Zelensky — and if Vladimir Putin had been involved in this exchange in any way.

Waiting for the next version of “No Collusion!” tweets from Team Trump.

May explain why Rudy had been radio silent for three days on Twitter though he’s resumed his brand of trash talking in the last hour.

Something Smells — and It’s Not Burning Oil

September 16, 2019/133 Comments/in Energy Policy, Foreign Policy, State Department, Trump Administration /by Rayne

[NB: Check the byline, thanks! /~Rayne]

Others have offered more trenchant responses after Trump’s tweets as well as Sen. Lindsey Graham’s warmongering, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s drivel about the apparent attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil processing facility this weekend. Let me offer my two cents about the attack.

This is an early assessment of what happened by a Bloomberg correspondent:

BREAKING: U.S. government releases satellite pictures showing the surgical strike against the Saudi oil facility of Abqaiq — direct hits on the critical spheroids used to treat the crude | #OOTT #SaudiArabia 🇸🇦 🛢⛽️ Here’s our latest update, with @nayrazz https://t.co/ZMb9BRaN5f pic.twitter.com/l7xNIaLcIw

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) September 15, 2019

Do open the tweet to look at both images in it; this is the one on the right in the tweet.

Here’s a another image of a portion of the damage from a Bloomberg article (click to expand):

Note carefully this color image as it appears on Bloomberg’s site is an expanded, rotated view of the damage shown in the black-and-white marked up photo on the left in the Bloomberg correspondent’s tweet. The pond at the right hand of the area under smoke is the point of reference.

Now note the detail from the color satellite photo. The color image is attributed to Planet Labs, Inc. at the Bloomberg article while the black-and-white ones are attributed to Digital Globe. The detail is pretty good but not as good as the image taken of the Iranian launch site explosion Trump tweeted on August 30.

I’ll be the first to admit I am not an expert on missiles, munitions, explosions, or oil processing systems. But something about these images doesn’t make sense to me. They don’t look like what I’d expect from missile damage targeting oil facilities.

Below is an image of a BP refinery explosion in Texas from 2005; the cause was blamed on exposure of flammable vapors to a spark from a running motor.

No missile involved. No drone dropping an explosive, either. Some leak and a spark and *FWOOM* (love the technical term).

Granted, the satellite imagery didn’t catch the Abqaiq facility immediately after the explosion when there would have been more flames. But the damage afterward doesn’t look as extensive as the BP refinery explosion.

Note the size of the holes in the rounded tanks in the second black-and-white satellite image to the right in the Bloomberg correspondent’s tweet. Awfully small, more like something used on an automobile-sized target, in my uninformed opinion.

Now note the shadows in the images. These were taken before solar noon over the location; shadows appear on the north-northwest side of any object with adequate profile above ground.

What ever hit the tank-like features came from the northwest and not from the east.

Iran is to the northeast of Saudi Arabia across the gulf.

One more wrinkle — check this map from the Indian Defence Review circa February 2015, analyzing Saudi Arabia’s defenses.

The Abqaiq oil processing facility is located between Riyadh and Dammam.

How would 17 separate missiles or drones from either Iran or Yemen get by the defense network to hit the facility from the northwest?

Pompeo has now said the attack didn’t come from Iraq’s direction.

A whole cascade of questions arises from there on out if you think about it. For grins use Twitter’s search tool and look for “abqaiq.” If you scroll through you’ll see many people are noting similar issues and posing similar questions.

Recommended additional reading: Connecticut’s Sen. Chris Murphy tweeted a thread last night related to the other culture issues involved in the regional tensions. It’s worth your time.

1/ Okay, in a few tweets I’m going to try to explain what’s going on in Yemen today, so you have some knowledge to counter this claim that America needs to bomb Iran because the Houthis bombed Saudi Arabia. It’s complicated, but now you need to know.

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) September 16, 2019

Treat this as an open thread.

Crowdsource: Build a Timeline on ODNI Whistleblower Complaint [UPDATED-4]

September 14, 2019/149 Comments/in Congress, Foreign Policy, Intelligence, Trump Administration /by Rayne

[NB: Updates will appear within the timeline or at the bottom of the text. /~Rayne]

Hey gang, Rayne here. I have to confess I am completely over my head right now. I have a huge pile of projects and I can’t get through them fast enough to pull a post together. I have family coming to visit, a garden to harvest, laundry to do — the list is a mile long. I could use more hands.

Are you up for crowdsourced investigation into one of the writing projects on my list? Whatever you put in comments I will go through and pull together into a more complete timeline.

The topic: The whistleblower complaint believed to be withheld by acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire to prevent investigation.

Point of origin: Schiff accuses top intel official of illegally withholding ‘urgent’ whistleblower complaint, by Kyle Cheney, POLITICO, published 13-SEP-2019, 8:12 p.m. EDT

Note carefully this piece ended up in the news dump zone — a Friday evening after 5:00 p.m.

What could the whistleblower complaint have been about, assuming there are other related matters in the public eye? A timeline might help us piece together the topic, or it may help us prepare for anticipated hearings.

I want to point out again that one of the five drafted Articles of Impeachment against Richard Nixon was about unauthorized activity disclosed by a whistleblower. We may be looking at yet another impeachable offense (as if there haven’t been enough already).

Here’s what I have so far — help me fill in some blanks you think may be relevant to a possible “urgent concern” in a whistleblower complaint, the Office of Director of National Intelligence, the Intelligence Community, and the House Permanent Subcommittee on Intelligence over the last 33 months.

10-MAY-2017 — Trump met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office. [UPDATE-3b]

15-MAY-2017 — Washington Post reported Trump revealed code word level classified information to Lavrov and Kislyak during Oval Office meeting. The information covered ISIL’s bomb-making capabilities and may have exposed allies’ intelligence gathering means and methods. [UPDATE-3b]

XX-MAY-2017 — Decision made to exfiltrate key Russian asset. Unclear exactly when decision made or when exfiltration occurred, only that it happened after the Oval Office meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak, and before the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany. [UPDATE-3b]

7/8-JUL-2017 — Trump meets Putin at G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany.[UPDATE-3b]

________

09-APR-2018 — John Bolton begins as National Security Adviser.

16-JUL-2018 — U.S.-Russia Summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland; Trump meets with Putin.

XX-JUL-2018 — Coats expressed opinion differing from Trump’s after Helsinki summit. Rumors began about Trump replacing Coats.

________

29-JAN-2019 — Coats testified before Senate Intelligence Committee; he said North Korea “is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities,” in contrast to Trump’s claims that Kim Jong-un has committed to denuclearization.

XX-FEB-2019 — Trump discussed replacements for DNI.

24-MAY-2019 — Trump issued a directive allowing Attorney General William Barr to declassify any intelligence that sparked the opening of the Russia investigation. [UPDATE-3c]

20-JUN-2019 — In retaliation for downing a U.S. drone, Trump approved strikes on Iran which were abruptly aborted. [UPDATE-4a]

24-JUL-2019 – The same day that John Ratcliffe used his time to question Robert Mueller before the Judiciary Committee to accuse Mueller of breaking DOJ regulations — CNN reported that “Ratcliffe has been under consideration for a job within the Trump administration, sources told CNN, including an intelligence or national security role.” [UPDATE-2a]

28-JUL-2019 — Coats’ departure and John Ratcliffe nominated as replacement announced by Trump via Twitter.

02-AUG-2019 — Ratcliffe withdraws from consideration. [UPDATE-2b]

08-AUG-2019 — Primary Deputy Director DNI Sue Gordon resigned effective 15-AUG-2019, without additional prior notice, as ordered. Resignation letter without handwritten note.

Copy of former PDDNI’s resignation letter with handwritten cover: ODNI_LTR_08AUG2019

12-AUG-19 — ICdIG received the whistleblower compaint, via Schiff’s 10-SEP letter [UPDATE-1]

15-AUG-2019 — Coats’ last day as DNI.

26-AUG-19 — IC IG transmitted the whistleblower complaint to the Acting DNI, via Schiff’s 10-SEP letter [UPDATE-1]

30-AUG-2019 — Trump tweeted a high-resolution satellite image of Iran’s failed Safir SLV launch while claiming the U.S. was not involved. The image may have been classified and ‘insta-declassified’ by Trump.

01/02-SEP-2o19 — US Special Rep. for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalizad met with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani in Kabul where the Taliban, Afghan government and the U.S. had “reached an agreement in principle” toward an eventual “total and permanent cease-fire.” [UPDATE-4a]

02-SEP-19 — Deadline for ADNI to forward the complaint to Intelligence committees of Congress passes without a referral, via Schiff’s 10-SEP letter [UPDATE-1]

03-SEP-2019 — Russian media outlet Tass reported that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said the U.S. and Taliban “insist that Russia must be present in one capacity or another at the possible signing of the agreements that the parties are working on now.” [UPDATE-4a]

04-SEP-2019 — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to sign the agreement with the Taliban. [UPDATE-4b]

09-SEP-2019 — CNN broke story of a CIA asset extracted from Russia in 2017; followed by NYT on the 9th (and then NBC’s Ken Dilanian appears at the asset’s house…) [UPDATE-3a]

09-SEP-2019 — Trump asked for Bolton’s resignation and tweeted about it the next morning.

09-SEP-2019 — Intelligence Community Inspector General (IC IG) sent a letter to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, notifying it of a whistleblower complaint which it had determined to be credible and a matter of “urgent concern.”

10-SEP-2019 — Bolton tells Fox’s Brian Kilmeade by text that he quit.

10-SEP-2019 — HPSCI Rep. Adam Schiff requested the full, unredacted complaint, the IC IG’s determination about the complaint, and all documentation of ODNI’s action regarding this complaint, including correspondence with the White House.

11-SEP-2019 — Bloomberg reported Bolton pushed back Monday-Tuesday at Trump over Iran sanctions; Bolton wanted maximum pressure while Trump wanted to encourage a meeting with Iran’s Rouhani later in September. [UPDATE-4a]

12-SEP-19 — Schiff and ADNI “discussed at length” the need to protect the whistleblower from any retaliation, including if the whistleblower subsequently comes forward to the committee with his/her concerns, via Schiff’s 13-SEP letter [UPDATE-1]

13-SEP-2019 — ODNI declined the request, claiming the request as “it involves confidentially and potentially privileged communications by persons outside the Intelligence Community.”

13-SEP-2019 — HPSCI subpoenaed acting DNI Joseph Maguire for materials declined by ODNI.

_____

Future items:

17- SEP-2019 — Deadline, materials responsive to subpoena must be turned over by this date

19- SEP-2019 — Date when Maguire will be compelled to appear before Congress in a public hearing

What a freaking mess. I have nothing here about Mike Pompeo or any other intelligence personnel or issues. The bit about Coats’ departure and Bolton’s termination stick out as well as that insta-declassified intelligence photo, but what might have been an “urgent concern”?

Knock yourselves out — I’ll check in as time permits. Let’s see if a narrative emerges besides the obvious fact the Trump administration has severely damaged our national security apparatus.

History’s Rhyme, Part 5: Bad Faith, Unauthorized Acts and Crimes Against Humanity

September 11, 2019/186 Comments/in Congress, Impeachment, Trump Administration /by Rayne

[NB: Check the byline, thanks! /~Rayne]

It’s time to revisit the ongoing comparison of Nixon’s Articles of Impeachment with possible Articles against Donald Trump. Previous posts in this series:

History’s Rhyme: Nixon’s Articles of Impeachment — focus on Obstruction of Justice

History’s Rhyme, Part 2a: ‘Abuse of Power’ Sounds So Familiar — Abuse of Power (may include Public Corruption)

History’s Rhyme, Part 3: How Nixon’s Impeachment Unfolded — Watergate and Nixon’s near-impeachment timeline

History’s Rhyme, Part 4: Contempt Then, Contempt Now — focus on comparing charges of Contempt of Congress between Nixon and Trump.

An expansion of Part 2 into 2b addressing more abuses of power is planned in the near future. Trump continues to rack them up.

As noted in previous posts in this series, the House Judiciary Committee prepared five Articles of Impeachment against Richard M. Nixon during the course of its impeachment inquiry. Only three of the five were passed out of committee and approved by Congress. We all know Nixon resigned before the House could vote on the three approved articles.

The fourth article which was not approved pertained to Nixon’s Operation Menu — the covert bombing of Cambodia. Congress, which has the sole power to declare war, had not expressly approved this in its 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolution. The bombings went unreported for four years and contributed to the destabilization of Cambodia.

A fundamental problem with this Article was that Congress bore some of the blame for the bombing; the Gulf of Tonkin resolution was written in such a way that it didn’t expressly preclude bombing of neighboring nations along the border with Vietnam. The resolution also did not constitute a declaration of war against North Vietnam, authorizing instead the use of military force to meet its obligations under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty. The legality of the military action in Vietnam was on thin ground, making action on any neighboring country even more questionable.

~ ~ ~

It’s not impossible this very same challenges will form the basis for another Article of Impeachment against Trump should he pursue military action against Iran without adequate approval from Congress.

But we already have seen Trump take action without Congressional approval and without the support of existing legislation behind him, beginning with his first week in office. His Executive Order 13769 to begin a Muslim travel ban was illegal; he persisted in pushing a ban focusing on Muslims with subsequent Executive Order 13780 and Presidential Proclamation 9645 until his Departments of Justice and Homeland Security arrived at restrictions which met the letter of existing law according to a now-stacked and partisan Supreme Court after several lawsuits. This is not a faithful execution of the law — 8 U.S. Code § 1158.Asylum — it’s whack-a-mole with innocent humans as collateral damage for no constructive reason or benefit to this country.

The sole benefit of the persecution of asylum seekers has been to curry favor with Trump’s voting base with campaign promises to stop them — and that’s corrupt.

When acting Attorney General Sally Yates announced the Department of Justice would not enforce the Muslim travel ban three days after Trump signed Executive Order 13769, she explained that the ban was not lawful. Trump rejected this opinion and fired her instead of relying on her expert opinion. He had to be told repeatedly by federal judges his executive order was not enforceable because it was unlawful.

People were detained unlawfully. People were unable to travel freely. The primary reason for their restriction was their religious identity — a violation of the First Amendment and its protections of religious freedom. It was a fundamental human rights violation under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which the U.S. is a signatory.

Trump’s introduction of a “zero tolerance” policy implemented during the first months of his term in office has also denied freedom of movement to persons seeking asylum at the border. The policy’s implementation resulted in systematic crimes against humanity including enslavement; deportation; imprisonment; torture; sexual assault including rape; persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds; other inhumane acts.

None of this was authorized by Congress; none of this is in 8 U.S. Code § 1158. These acts also violate numerous U.S. laws as well as treaties. While there is not currently a treaty on crimes against humanity, Trump’s bad faith execution of U.S. law and existing treaties like the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the U.N. Convention Against Torture spell out many of these crimes.

Again, Congress did not authorize acts like:

— separating children from parents or guardians;

— holding children in cages;

— trafficking separated children into unauthorized adoptions without parental or guardian consent;

— deportation of minors without parent or guardian;

— failure to track minors so they can be reunited with parents and/or guardians;

— failing to provide reasonable care including adequate food and water, bedding, hygiene, heat and cooling, health care;

— transporting detained persons without notification to parents, guardians, family members;

— refoulement – deporting asylum seekers back to the place they fled;

— forced labor.

Nothing in U.S. law or treaties to which the U.S. has been a party or signatory authorizes this kind of treatment.

Further, Trump’s bad faith execution exacerbates a long-term problem with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — too many U.S. citizens have been denied their rights, stopped, interrogated, detained, and treated like aliens simply because they were not white.

Trump also systematically defies a court order issued in June 2018 prohibiting further separations of minors from their families at the border and instructing the Department of Homeland security to return minors to their families. The Trump administration weaseled around the court order, detaining entire families at military facilities — new concentration camps — while DHS continued to separate families on an irregular basis.

We’ve seen evidence of this systematic lawlessness based on inspections by Congressional tours of detention facilities — concentration camps in which asylum seeking minors were denied reasonable “safe and sanitary” conditions.

The number of illnesses and deaths attributable to Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy may never be fully known because the administration has done so much to avoid monitoring and oversight.

~ ~ ~

Other deaths which can be wholly attributed to Trump’s bad faith in executing his office are those of 2,975 Americans who lived in Puerto Rico (pdf) when Hurricane Maria hit the island in 2017.

He had to be shamed into dispatching a U.S. Navy hospital ship to provide emergency health care even though the vessel had been waiting well in advance of the hurricane’s strike. It took nearly six weeks after it was dispatched for the vessel to berth and begin delivering care, though the Navy knew in advance of the hurricane that Puerto Rico might need medical support.

The manner in which the emergency aid was provided to the island was grossly negligent when not outright malignant — like the bottles of water left to sit on a tarmac for a year after the storm, or the recall of the hospital vessel U.S.S. Comfort long before its services were no longer needed, or the lack of effort on the White House’s part to work with Congress to assure aid money would be allocated and distributed in a timely basis.

Puerto Ricans were denied their right to equal protection under the law; they were not accorded the same access to federal aid as mainland citizens, in contrast to the assistance received by other Americans after Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Michael in 2017-2018.

And none of this had the imprimatur of Congress.

~ ~ ~

Unlike Nixon’s Operation Menu which only lasted 14 months, Trump’s derogation of Congress’s authority through his bad faith execution of laws is now into its 33 month. His malign acts increase in depth and breadth, now including the wretched refusal of Bahamians fleeing their hurricane devastated country, continued separation of families including Bahamian children.

And now an even more evil effort has begun: Trump wants to round up homeless people regardless of their citizenship and house them in unused Federal Aviation Administration facilities (read: place them in concentration camps).

There are homeless who work in Silicon Valley, homeless only because there isn’t affordable housing. Will he stop at them? Is he doing this to line his pockets in some way or as a campaign promise not shared with the public?

How has his effort combined with that of his cabinet secretary Ben Carson done anything to improve access to affordable housing when they are undermining civil rights protections for marginalized groups?

None of this effort targeting California’s homeless has been adequately debated by Congress let alone codified by law.

Will Congress do nothing at all to stop this creeping and inhuman fascism, these sustained attacks on human rights of citizens and non-citizens alike?

The 93rd Congress may not have passed the fourth Article of Impeachment against Nixon, but at least they understood and grasped the executive could and must be removed with the three articles they passed. It’d be nice if the 116th Congress was less supine.

Scotland: A Nexus for Trouble?

September 9, 2019/110 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, Mueller Probe, Treasury, Trump Administration /by Rayne

[NB: Check the byline, thanks! /~Rayne]

I started writing this post back in early 2018. Might even have been very late 2017, I can’t tell now. Something about Scotland bothered me at the time even though I’m a keen fan of the country.

Now I’m even more bothered than I was when I first started putting words together about Scotland.

~ ~ ~

There is an old maxim for which I can’t find attribution: “He who holds Stirling, holds Scotland.” Stirling is smack between the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands, on the Central Belt of Scotland — the country’s heart. The saying may once have referred to Stirling Castle, but one might wonder if it means something more today.

The University of Stirling, eighth largest in Scotland, is built on the grounds of a different castle. A public school founded in 1967 by royal charter, the school is relatively young compared to University of St. Andrews (1410) and University of Glasgow (1451). It’s comparable in size to small American state universities. It reorganized in 2016 into four faculties and two schools — faculties of Social Science, Arts and Humanities, Natural Science, Health Sciences and Sport, Stirling School of Management and Stirling Graduate School.

It’s the Faculty of Arts and Humanities to which I want to draw attention, as it includes the London Academy of Diplomacy.

You may also know this as the school which employed Professor Joseph Mifsud, the Russian agent who told Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos that Russia had Hillary Clinton emails.

You probably read reporting on Mifsud’s mid-2017 disappearance. If you haven’t, check out the detailed profile on this archived page and the University of Stirling’s student newspaper online. Read them while you can; our fellow contributor Jim White noted in January 2018 how Mifsud’s profile online was being scrubbed (indeed, the underlying source for the archived site above has an odd habit of going offline erratically).

What puzzles me after reading quite a lot about Mifsud: how did the London Academy of Diplomacy end up at Stirling — who suggested it, set up the curriculum, funded it?

Why does LAD look like a clone of DAL — the Diplomatic Academy of London — but located in Stirling instead of London?

And why Stirling, Scotland, located a mere 17 miles from Gleneagles Hotel, far away from the United Kingdom’s diplomatic action? Its population is around 36,000, it’s located inland away from an ocean port, and it doesn’t even have an airport.

Even smaller Gleneagles is an interesting location; the site is beautifully rural and easy to secure. It’s been used for a G8 meeting for this reason.

Mifsud is very little less of a mystery now than he was 18 months ago, but there’s more not quite right about Scotland when it comes to U.S. politics.

~ ~ ~

Why, for instance, did Steve Bannon show up at a “secret” meeting hosted by think tank Scotland International Ltd. (SIL) at Gleneagles in early December 2017? SIL was founded and funded by investment banker Sir Angus Grossart; the think tank hosts a “secret” meeting each year.

Bannon also met with former Ukip leader Nigel Farage and Tory MP Jacob Rees Mogg that same trip — both of whom are staunch Brexit supporters.

Scottish papers didn’t stint when labeling Bannon and his presentation; he was called “dangerous” and a “far right agitator” and his reception was described as chilly.

Bannon’s appearance at SIL also hasn’t aged well; his host Grossart received the Pushkin medal from Putin in October 2018, which didn’t agree with Scotland and the rest of the UK after the Skripals’ poisoning. Why does Bannon’s circle have so few degrees of separation from Russia and Putin, even in Scotland?

It may be the relationship between the so-called “economic nationalism” Bannon claims he espouses and Putin’s desire to destabilize the EU and NATO. Grossart is also the chairman of Charlotte Street Partners (CSP), a lobbying group which sought to disrupt education reform:

“… Proposals from the Scottish Government sought to expand democratic decision making in higher education, following previous conflict over departmental cuts and excessive salaries for top university officials.

While the proposals gained support from staff trade unions and student groups, universities management representatives criticised the plans and claimed that the bill threatens the charitable status of universities. …”

Why was there such invested effort in mucking up government and organized labor and student groups? CSP’s work looks like that of the U.S. right-wing think tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy, funded in part by the DeVos family. Mackinac Center has been intent on shaking out government funding to redirect to private charter schools (school choice), undermining collective bargaining power, while promoting hijacking teachers’ union retirement funds to private investment management.

Is Grossart looking to sink his chops into management of Scottish teachers’ pension funds if Scotland’s government is rattled by whatever happens after Brexit?

~ ~ ~

It was our illustrious Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin who first triggered my spider senses about Scotland, what with his sketchy request for a military plane for his vacation, including his honeymoon with Scottish actress Louise Linton during early August 2017. A subsequent investigation by the Office of the Inspector General for the Treasury Department indicates Mnuchin’s office requested the plane on August 1 for a trip beginning August 3, and that the request was withdrawn.

That trip and any others Mnuchin took using military planes should be the subject of a House Oversight Committee hearing if not House Armed Services Committee if they investigate military aircraft flying to airports or bases near Trump hotels or resorts.

What I want to know now, though:

— Did he conduct any U.S. Treasury business while on this August 2017 trip? If so,

— Did this trip take him to the airport closest to his in-laws’ digs near Edinburgh, Melville Castle?

— Or did Mnuchin’s trip in August 2017 fly into Glasgow Prestwick Airport near Trump’s Turnberry golf course, whether or not he flew on a military aircraft?

— Were any accommodations during this trip paid for by Mnuchin or were they charged to the U.S. government, and were those charges audited against any U.S. government business conducted during his trip?

Assuming he did U.S. government business I’d expect no less from Mnuchin’s expense reporting than I would at a Fortune 500 company — all government business fully documented and accounted for with receipts.

Mnuchin’s first trip requesting and using a military aircraft was in March 2017 for the G-20 event; the routing on the aircraft request was for London/Berlin/Baden-Baden. But did this military aircraft stop at Prestwick?

Was Mnuchin’s second flight using a military aircraft in May 2017 to Bari, Italy a direct flight from the U.S., or did it stop at Prestwick?

It’s odd that both trips were so close in total amount of aircraft time — 18.83 hours for the first trip, 19.66 hours for the second trip. Very odd.

Odder yet: for Mnuchin’s eighth trip using a military aircraft, this time to the Middle East in October 2017, there’s no reported total aircraft time in the memorandum from the Treasury’s OIG (pdf). The investigation into the previous seven flights was conducted before the Middle East trip.

How convenient.

~ ~ ~

Glasgow Prestwick Airport, of course, is the one that U.S. military planes have been stopping at for refueling while their crews and passengers stay at nearby pricey Trump golf resort, on the Department of Defense’s dime. Our dime.

One of my sharp eyed followers said there was a USAF transport in the latest Google Earth image on #Prestwick airport. Its true. It’s a KC-135 Stratotanker. #PerDiemGate #Scotland pic.twitter.com/OFJXt2BQQ5

— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) September 7, 2019

If you follow the tweet above you’ll note someone determined the date of this Google Earth photo — June 17, 2018 — which means the U.S. military had been boosting Glasgow Prestwick Airport and possibly Trump Turnberry as well. The House is now looking into this.

When was the first U.S. military plane refueling visit to Prestwick, though? Was it August 2017?

No, it looks even earlier, and on Jim Mattis‘ watch as then-Secretary of Defense (note the date, description, and content on the photo at the top of this article). But this doesn’t answer whether Mnuchin’s borrowed planes also sponged off taxpayers to line Trump’s pockets.

We don’t know what other executive branch departments have borrowed military aircraft and/or stayed at Trump hotels and resorts yet, either.

There also doesn’t seem to be a good explanation for why U.S. government aircraft have increasingly stopped at Glasgow Prestwick Airport before Trump was inaugurated.

… The Air Force’s use of the Prestwick airport has also steadily grown. Indeed, the use of the facility has nearly tripled — and overnights in the area increased more than five-fold, the Air Force acknowledged Sunday.

From 2015 to 2019, they said, Air Mobility Command aircraft stopped at the civil airport 936 times. Of those, crews stayed overnight in the area 659 times.

The frequency of the stops and overnight stays has increased steadily each year, from 95 stops and 40 overnights in 2015; 145 and 75 in 2016; 180 and 116 in 2017; 257 and 208 in 2018; and 259 stops and 220 overnights through August 2019. …

This doesn’t help appearances whatsoever:

The Trump Organization and Prestwick also announced a partnership in 2014, per this release. pic.twitter.com/ZhlPKn0N1i

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) September 9, 2019

~ ~ ~

This post is a bit clunky because I’ve strung together bits and pieces accumulated for nearly 18 months.

But whatever is going on in Scotland is just as clunky and badly in need of sorting.

Three Things: Corrupt, More Corrupt, and Stumbling Naifs

September 8, 2019/61 Comments/in Congress, Trump Administration /by Rayne

[NB: Check the byline, thanks! /~Rayne]

I’ve got a couple of posts s-l-o-w-l-y brewing but there’s plenty to chew on in the mean time. There may be some all-caps yelling, I must warn.

~ 3 ~

Utah’s Senator Mike Lee went to Moscow this week to talk about lifting the sanctions. Because of course he did, being utterly insensitive to the ongoing attacks by Russia on U.S. elections ahead. The sanctions Russia placed against the U.S. are pure bullshit and shouldn’t be seen as anything more than that; a member of Congress negotiating with them only legitimizes them.

Curiously, Lee is one of the same Class III GOP senators whose terms end in January 2023. What a coincidence that eight of 22 Class III GOP senators have now made a visit to Moscow.

You’ll recall that last year GOP Senators Richard Shelby (AL), Steve Daines (MT), John Hoeven (ND), John Neely Kennedy (LA), Jerry Moran (KS), Ron Johnson (SD), and John Thune (SD) — all Class III senators except for Daines who is in Class II — made a visit to Moscow on July 4 last year ostensibly to ask Russia to stop meddling in our elections.

Ha. More likely to ask for help when they run for re-election.

~ 2 ~

Speaking of sketchy GOP senators, 26 of 53 GOP senators have now visited and used the Trump Hotel in Washington DC. Purely innocent use of a convenient facility, right? Except these senators never used any Trump hotel until after he was elected.

Last Name	First Name	State	Term Ends	Went to Russia
Barrasso	John	WY	2025
Blackburn	Marsha	TN	2025
Blunt	Roy	AR	2023
Cornyn	John	TX	2021
Cotton	Tom	AR	2021
Crapo	Mike	ID	2023
Cruz	Ted	TX	2025
Ernst	Joni	IA	2021
Gardner	Cory	CO	2021
Graham	Lindsey	SC	2021
Grassley	Chuck	IA	2023
Hawley	Josh	MO	2025
Hoeven	John	ND	2023	Moscow 2018
Inhofe	James	OK	2021
Johnson	Ron	WI	2023	Moscow 2018
Kennedy	John	LA	2023	Moscow 2018
McConnell	Mitch	KY	2021
Murkowski	Lisa	AK	2023
Paul	Rand	KY	2023
Rounds	Mike	SD	2021
Rubio	Marco	FL	2023
Sasse	Ben	NE	2021
Scott	Tim	SC	2023
Thune	John	SD	2023	Moscow 2018
Tillis	Thom	NC	2021

Kind of disgusting to see Lisa Murkowski on this list; she’s been more independent of the GOP than most of the rest of her caucus. The RNC has spent $400,000 at Trump hotels since the 2016 election, setting a great example of corruption for the rest of its ranks.

Don’t even get me started on spineless Ben Sasse, he of all talk and no cattle when it comes to doing the right thing.

Have to wonder what the state of play in Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin for these four GOP senators to not only call on Russia on America’s holiday of independence last year but to suck up to their mobster party boss at his overpriced hotels.

One thing I couldn’t find readily: the name of the lone Democratic senator who visited a Trump hotel. Name and shame them, people. Democrats need to clearly differentiate themselves from corruption.

~ 1 ~

Meanwhile, some Democratic freshmen can’t find their butts with both hands when it comes to an impeachment inquiry. These representatives so far have resisted supporting an inquiry in spite of being elected to office in a blue wave — they were chosen to fix Trump’s Washington, in short. Most of them are holding out for more facts, a stronger case before they support impeachment.

And now a direct message to those freshmen holdouts:

WHAT PART OF MULTIPLE COUNTS OF OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE DON’T YOU GET, FRESHMEN??

It’s right there in the Special Counsel’s Report which every member of Congress has had more than ample time and at least one lengthy break to read.

Not to mention the ongoing daily abuses of power and gross negligence which speak for themselves and in some cases have cost human lives (ask Puerto Rico and the untold numbers of asylum-seeking children still in cages).

Take notes from California frosh Rep. Katie Porter on an impeachment inquiry. Nobody is above the law and you members of Congress have a constitutional duty to uphold and defend it — you’re given the power to deal with an intransigent executive by the Constitution.

You’ve read the Constitution’s Article I, haven’t you? You understood your oath of office, yes? Bloody well do what you were hired to do which is outlined in the Constitution and your oath, neither of which prescribe winning popularity contests or fundraising.

These are the representatives I’ve seen named in several reports* as reluctant to get behind an impeachment inquiry:

Susan Wild PA-7 D+1.1 (redistricted from pivot districts, doesn’t believe there’s enough evidence for impeachment)

Gil Cisneros CA-39 EVEN R+0/D+0
TJ Cox CA-21 EVEN R+0/D+0
Josh Harder CA-10 EVEN R+0/D+0
Katie Hill CA-25 EVEN R+0/D+0

Jared Golden ME-2 R+2 (called impeachment nonsense, isn’t hearing from constituents about supporting impeachment)
Angie Craig MN-2 R+2
Andrew Kim NJ-3 R+2
Conor Lamb PA-17 R+2.5 (redistricted)

Haley Stevens MI-11 R+4
Elissa Slotkin MI-8 R+4

Being from Michigan I can almost understand the concerns of the last two, BUT…they were elected in districts which have been strongly GOP for at least a decade, as a direct rebuttal of Trump policies. Trump’s bullshit trade war with China has hurt both businesses and investments of their constituents greatly (unless they’re accountants who are raking in big bucks from all the new tax code changes). They’ve also got a Democratic governor, attorney general, and secretary of state who are women and going to do their best to get their backs and assure a fair election in 2020. The excuses they have for waffling in R+4 districts are nominal, especially after Trump’s egregious behavior on so many topics this week. How badly does Trump have to meltdown before they will get behind a formal inquiry?

And that’s what should be pounded into the rest of the freshmen who are holding out ‘because we don’t have all the facts’ or ‘we need the strongest case’ or ‘I don’t jump on a bandwagon’: DO THE RIGHT THING BY SUPPORTING AN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY.

We will get all the facts and make the strongest case with a formal inquiry which has Constitutional support.

And the bandwagon is to DO THE RIGHT THING, not worry about re-election, Rep. Wild. None of your bills are going anywhere so long as Senate Majority Leader #MoscowMitch McConnell is in thrall to both Trump and Russia. Quit dragging your feet and get the hell on board.

~ 0 ~

I’ve got a post in progress on the Epstein-MIT Media Lab scandal and another on Scotland. Later this week we’ll have to do another whip count now that I’ve laid out the problem with freshmen Democrats.

If you haven’t called your representative lately, do so — Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121 — and ask them to support an impeachment inquiry. Thank them if they already have committed to supporting an inquiry. They count calls, I can see it reflected in media reports.

Let’s get back to school, people. Treat this as an open thread.
________

* Sources:
31-AUG-2019 – House Democrats in Trump districts resist liberal pressure on impeachment (WaPo)

02-SEP-2019 – Impeachment Summer Passes By, Without A Breakthrough (HuffPo)

07-SEP-2019 – Impeachment fight looms over freshmen Democrats at home in California (CNN)

Commuting Blago’s Wildly Excessive Sentence Would Be Right For Trump To Do

September 1, 2019/61 Comments/in Culture, Democrats, Department of Justice, Law, Trump Administration /by bmaz

Another poster at the Emptywheel blog, okay, it may be Emptywheel herself, has today posted a very interesting take, and I think a good one, on the intersection of Jim Comey, Pat Fitzgerald and Rod Blagojevich.

If Trump were to commute Blago’s sentence…..it would be one of the few pardon power actions he has taken that would be justified.

The other was, obviously, the woman Kim Kardashian talked him into commuting.

Don’t get me started about governance by reality show/sex tape idiots like Kimye, but still that was good.

Here is the thing though. Hate on Rod Blagojevich all you want. Laugh at him all you want. Sure, all that is good and proper.

What was not, however, was his sentence. Judge James Zagel got a bug up his ass and sentenced Blago to twice as much time as was possibly appropriate for his purported offenses. There is a long history of Illinois Governors, criminal charges, and prison. But no sentence remotely like Zagel gave Blago.

Then there was Bob McDonnell of Virginia, who ended up not ever serving a day on things that were, mostly, more obvious pay to play corruption than Blago. Also, there was Don Siegelman, who arguably met potential charging elements, even if they were mostly innocuous acts, and who was only ever charged because of a Rove/Cheney effort to insure the same. Siegelman got just over six years.

Don’t get me started about Bob Menendez. The point being, even if Blago was corrupt, needed to be found guilty, and needed to be sentenced…..The sentence of 14 years Zagel gave Mr. Blagojevich was insane and ludicrous.

As big of a narcissistic and useless asshole as Trump is, he would be right to commute the insanely over sentenced punishment Zagel gave to Rod Blagojevich.

People, especially the more liberal than not among us, constantly scream for criminal justice reform. Abolish cash bail (a good thought, but one with far different and deeper implications than you think as Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice has noted), less incarceration, shorter sentences, better programs for those incarcerated. End the death penalty. Less solitary confinement. Etc. All good things.

But part and parcel of all of it is recognizing crazy stupid sentences too. Blago is pretty much a joke of a historical character. Fine. He was never Public Enemy Number One either. His sentence from Zagel was outrageous. If Trump is willing to commute it, he should, and that should be cheered.

But, because of pushback from the very same people that usually scream and squawk, and rightfully so, about criminal justice reform when it is not one of their pet pariahs, i.e. people on the left and, here, Blago, Trump will certainly chicken out from doing the right thing. Because Trump doesn’t know the facts, and he is a pussy that is too easily grabbed by Republicans and, in this case, bullshit liberals too.

Free Blago. It needs to be done.

Whip It Good: Crack That Whip [UPDATED-5]

August 21, 2019/107 Comments/in Congress, Impeachment, Trump Administration /by Rayne

[NB: Check the byline, thanks. Updates will appear at the bottom of the post before the whip count table. /~Rayne]

I was really torn about sharing this video — watching it induced a wicked flashback to my salad days. As problematic as the images in it are now, the lyrics are effective and the tune snappy.

Just the thing to get you pumped up to make a phone call to your representative. Now crack that whip!

Since the last Whip It post we’ve picked up these Democrats in support of an impeachment inquiry:

Rep. Lauren Underwood IL-14 (rated R+5*)

Rep. Anthony Brown MD-4 (rated D+28)

Rep. Ben Ray Luján NM-3 (rated D+8)

As the current Assistant Speaker and former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair during the last session, Luján is the highest ranking representative to commit to date.

According to POLITICO’s most recent count, we’re at 131 Democrats in support of an impeachment inquiry. We need 87 more to pass an authorizing resolution.

We’re entering the tough slog. It’s not going to be pretty when representatives are offering tepid support in spite of their very blue district, or flipping only after claiming their district is too conservative. I’m rather annoyed at Anthony Brown, for example, whose district is D+28 — ridiculous to string this out so long and make such a tepid statement when declaring support.

There are 104 Democrats who have not yet committed to supporting an impeachment inquiry. This means 17 Democrats can remain uncommitted and a resolution would still pass.

But there are 75 Democrats in districts ranked D+0 or better who have yet to get behind an inquiry. There are no excuses for this; surely they can see the 2018 wave will continue, especially as a recession begins and Trump continues to put the nation at risk nearly every damned time he tweets.

12 of the 29 Democrats in R+1 or worse districts must also eventually give their support. They will lose their existing Democratic base if they don’t. If they don’t already see obvious reasons why an impeachment inquiry must begin, they need to be primaried for having failed their oath of office.

You’ll notice if you haven’t in past Whip It posts that I’ve given up on the House GOP members. They are wholly committed to a transnational organized crime syndicate’s omertà, willing to kowtow to foreign entities to obtain continuing support, willing to turn a blind eye to the many gross failings of the Trump administration.

They’re willing to let farmers lose their farms, workers lose their jobs, constituents lose their health care, their homes to health care-driven bankruptcy, their lives to opioid addiction and to unregistered assault weapons in the hands of white nationalist terrorists.

They’ve completely thrown in the towel on democracy by refusing to protect voting infrastructure and ensuring every citizen has access to the polls.

Their oath of fealty to their syndicate is stronger than their loyalty to their fellow Americans and the Constitution.

This is the moment of differentiation for Democrats. This is when the rubber meets the road, when bullshit walks. Do not be found wanting when weighed and measured; do not be Republican light. Be a true (little r) republican and defend this democracy.

That goes for us as constituents as well. It’s still upon us to keep this republic, showing up at town halls our representatives have during the remaining summer recess, by calling their offices in D.C. or locally, by sending faxes or using Resistbot to make our sentiments heard.

Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121

Call your representative (and only your representative) and ask them to support an impeachment inquiry, even if they are a Republican. If your representative has already thrown their support behind an inquiry, do be sure to thank them.

This whip count will continue to be updated. Share in comments any new announcements by House members throwing support behind an impeachment inquiry.

And thank community member harpie for staying on top of the count as new commitments are made.

UPDATE-1 — 7:00 PM EDT —

Looks like another Democrat declared support for an impeachment inquiry while I was drafting this post.

Rep. Jim Langevin RI-2 (D+6)

UPDATE-2 — 11:30 PM EDT —

Oops, my count was off by two and now I know why. I missed Ruppersberger and Trone.

UPDATE: POLITICO’s official impeachment inquriy whip count is at 131 Democrats (132 overall w/ Amash).

Today’s additions:

-Ruppersberger
-Trone
-Langevinhttps://t.co/3RIKRLxnic

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 21, 2019

Note the rating on their districts:

Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger MD-2 (D+11)

Rep. David Trone MD-6 (D+6)

Come on, Hoyer. Your Maryland district is a D+11 like Ruppersberger’s. Don’t think for a moment we’ve forgotten you.

UPDATE-3 — 3:40 PM EDT 22-AUG-2019 —

Add another to the tally, now at 134.

Rep. Bruce Schneider IL-10 (D+10)

UPDATE-4 — 6:00 PM EDT 22-AUG-2019 —

Feels like things are picking up steam. We have two more to add to the count:

Rep. Bill Keating MD-09 (D+4)

Rep. Mark Takano CA-41 (D+12)

That’s 136. Who’s next?

UPDATE-5 — 5:50 PM EDT 23-AUG-2019 —

Politico added Ro Khanna to their count; he’s made tepid statements over the last two months like Anthony Brown MD-4 so we hadn’t added him before now. I guess we’ll add him and then hold his feet to the fire to ensure he delivers, hmm?

Rep. Ro Khanna CA-17 (D+25)

Really no excuses not to be bolder when you’re in a true blue district. Be a leader, for crying out loud.

State	Last	First, Middle, Nickname	Party Affiliation	Impeachment Inquiry Y/N	House Judiciary Committee
Alabama	Sewell	Terrycina Andrea “Terri”	Dem
Arizona	Gallego	Ruben	Dem	Y
Arizona	Grijalva	Raul M.	Dem	Y
Arizona	Kirkpatrick	Ann	Dem	Y
Arizona	O’Halleran	Tom	Dem
Arizona	Stanton	Greg	Dem	Y	🔺
California	Aguilar	Pete	Dem	Y
California	Barragán	Nanette Diaz	Dem	Y
California	Bass	Karen R.	Dem	Y (?) see comment	🔺
California	Bera	Amerish “Ami”	Dem
California	Brownley	Julia	Dem	Y
California	Cardenas	Tony	Dem	Y
California	Carbajal	Salud O.	Dem	Y
California	Chu	Judy	Dem	Y
California	Cisneros	Gilbert “Gil”	Dem
California	Correa	Jose Luis “Lou”	Dem
California	Costa	Jim	Dem
California	Cox	Terrance John “TJ”	Dem
California	Davis	Susan A.	Dem
California	DeSaulnier	Mark	Dem	Y
California	Eshoo	Anna G.	Dem
California	Garamendi	John Raymond	Dem	Y
California	Gomez	Jimmy	Dem	Y
California	Harder	Josh	Dem
California	Hill	Katherine Lauren “Katie”	Dem
California	Huffman	Jared W.	Dem	Y
California	Khanna	Rohit “Ro”	Dem	Y
California	Lee	Barbara	Dem	Y
California	Levin	Mike	Dem	Y
California	Lieu	Ted W.	Dem	Y	🔺
California	Lofgren	Zoe	Dem	see comment
California	Lowenthal	Alan S.	Dem	Y
California	Matsui	Doris K.	Dem	Y
California	McNerney	Gerald Mark “Jerry”	Dem
California	Napolitano	Grace Flores	Dem	Y
California	Panetta	James Varni “Jimmy”	Dem
California	Pelosi	Nancy	Dem
California	Peters	Scott	Dem	Y
California	Porter	Katherine “Katie”	Dem	Y
California	Rouda Jr.	Harley E.	Dem	Y
California	Roybal-Allard	Lucille	Dem	Y
California	Ruiz	Raul	Dem
California	Sanchez	Linda T.	Dem
California	Schiff	Adam B.	Dem
California	Sherman	Brad	Dem	Y
California	Speier	Jackie	Dem	Y
California	Swalwell	Eric Michael	Dem	Y	🔺 (7)
California	Takano	Mark A.	Dem	Y	(11)
California	Thompson	C. Michael “Mike”	Dem
California	Torres	Norma J.	Dem	Y
California	Vargas	Juan C.	Dem	Y
California	Waters	Maxine	Dem	Y
Colorado	Crow	Jason	Dem	Y
Colorado	DeGette	Diana L.	Dem	Y
Colorado	Neguse	Joseph “Joe”	Dem	Y	🔺
Colorado	Perlmutter	Edwin G. “Ed”	Dem
Connecticut	Courtney	Joseph D. “Joe”	Dem
Connecticut	DeLauro	Rosa L.	Dem
Connecticut	Hayes	Jahana	Dem
Connecticut	Himes	Jim	Dem	Y
Connecticut	Larson	John B.	Dem
Delaware	Rochester	Lisa Blunt	Dem	Y
Florida	Castor	Katherine Anne “Kathy”	Dem
Florida	Crist	Charlie Joseph	Dem
Florida	Demings	Valdez “Val”	Dem	Y	🔺
Florida	Deutch	Theodore Eliot “Ted”	Dem	Y	🔺 (2)
Florida	Frankel	Lois J.	Dem
Florida	Hastings	Alcee L.	Dem
Florida	Lawson Jr.	Alfred “Al”	Dem
Florida	Mucarsel-Powell	Debbie	Dem	Y	🔺
Florida	Murphy	Stephanie	Dem
Florida	Shalala	Donna Elvira	Dem
Florida	Soto	Darren	Dem
Florida	Wasserman Schultz	Debbie	Dem
Florida	Wilson	Frederica S.	Dem
Georgia	Bishop Jr.	Sanford Dixon	Dem
Georgia	Johnson Jr.	Henry C. “Hank”	Dem
Georgia	Lewis	John R.	Dem
Georgia	McBath	Lucia Kay “Lucy”	Dem
Georgia	Scott	David Albert	Dem
Hawaii	Case	Edward E. “Ed”	Dem
Hawaii	Gabbard	Tulsi	Dem
Illinois	Bustos	Cheri	Dem
Illinois	Casten	Sean	Dem	Y
Illinois	Davis	Danny K.	Dem	Y
Illinois	Foster	G. William “Bill”	Dem
Illinois	Garcia	Jesus G. “Chuy”	Dem	Y
Illinois	Kelly	Robin L.	Dem	Y
Illinois	Krishnamoorthi	S. Raja	Dem
Illinois	Lipinski	Daniel William “Dan”	Dem
Illinois	Quigley	Mike	Dem	Y
Illinois	Rush	Bobby Lee	Dem	Y
Illinois	Schakowsky	Janice D. “Jan”	Dem	Y
Illinois	Schneider	Bradley Scott “Brad”	Dem	Y
Illinois	Underwood	Lauren A.	Dem	Y
Indiana	Carson	Andre D.	Dem	Y
Indiana	Visclosky	Peter J.	Dem
Iowa	Axne	Cindy	Dem
Iowa	Finkenauer	Abby	Dem
Iowa	Loebsack	David Wayne “Dave”	Dem
Kansas	Davids	Sharice	Dem
Kentucky	Yarmuth	John A.	Dem	Y
Louisiana	Richmond	Cedric L.	Dem	Y	🔺
Maine	Golden	Jared F.	Dem
Maine	Pingree	Chellie M.	Dem	Y
Maryland	Brown	Anthony Gregory	Dem	Y
Maryland	Cummings	Elijah E.	Dem
Maryland	Hoyer	Steny Hamilton	Dem
Maryland	Raskin	Jamin B. “Jamie”	Dem	Y	🔺
Maryland	Ruppersberger III	Charles Albert Dutch “C.A. Dutch”	Dem	Y
Maryland	Sarbanes	John Peter Spyros	Dem
Maryland	Trone	David	Dem	Y
Massachusetts	Clark	Katherine M.	Dem	Y	(1)
Massachusetts	Keating	William Richard “Bill”	Dem	Y
Massachusetts	Kennedy III	Joseph Patrick “Joe”	Dem	Y
Massachusetts	Lynch	Stephen F.	Dem
Massachusetts	McGovern	James P. “Jim”	Dem	Y	(5)
Massachusetts	Moulton	Seth W.	Dem	Y
Massachusetts	Neal	Richard E.	Dem
Massachusetts	Pressley	Ayanna S.	Dem	Y
Massachusetts	Trahan	Lori Loureiro	Dem	Y
Michigan	Dingell	Debbie	Dem
Michigan	Kildee	Daniel T. “Dan”	Dem	Y
Michigan	Lawrence	Brenda Lulenar	Dem	Y
Michigan	Levin	Andy	Dem	Y
Michigan	Slotkin	Elissa	Dem
Michigan	Stevens	Haley	Dem
Michigan	Tlaib	Rashida	Dem	Y
Minnesota	Craig	Angela Dawn “Angie”	Dem
Minnesota	McCollum	Betty	Dem	Y
Minnesota	Omar	Ilhan	Dem	Y
Minnesota	Peterson	Collin Clark	Dem
Minnesota	Phillips	Dean	Dem
Mississippi	Thompson	Bennie G.	Dem	Y	(8)
Missouri	Clay Jr.	William Lacy	Dem	Y
Missouri	Cleaver II	Emanuel	Dem	Y
Nevada	Horsford	Steven Alexzander	Dem
Nevada	Lee	Susan Kelley “Susie”	Dem
Nevada	Titus	Alice Costandina “Dina”	Dem	Y
New Hampshire	Kuster	Ann McLane “Annie”	Dem	Y
New Hampshire	Pappas	Christopher C. “Chris”	Dem	Y
New Jersey	Gottheimer	Joshua S. “Josh”	Dem
New Jersey	Kim	Andrew “Andy”	Dem
New Jersey	Malinowski	Tom	Dem	Y
New Jersey	Norcross	Donald W.	Dem	Y
New Jersey	Pallone Jr.	Frank	Dem	Y see comment	(10)
New Jersey	Pascrell Jr.	William J. “Bill”	Dem	Y
New Jersey	Payne Jr.	Donald M.	Dem	Y
New Jersey	Sherrill	Rebecca Michelle “Mikie”	Dem
New Jersey	Sires	Albio	Dem
New Jersey	Van Drew	Jeff	Dem
New Jersey	Watson Coleman	Bonnie	Dem	Y
New Mexico	Haaland	Debra A. “Deb”	Dem	Y
New Mexico	Lujan	Ben Ray	Dem	Y
New Mexico	Torres Small	Xochitl	Dem
New York	Brindisi	Anthony J.	Dem
New York	Clarke	Yvette D.	Dem	Y
New York	Delgado	Antonio	Dem
New York	Engel	Eliot Lance	Dem	Y	(3)
New York	Espaillat	Adriano	Dem	Y
New York	Higgins	Brian M.	Dem	Y
New York	Jeffries	Hakeem S.	Dem
New York	Lowey	Nita M.	Dem	Y	(4)
New York	Maloney	Carolyn Bosher	Dem	Y
New York	Maloney	Sean Patrick	Dem
New York	Meeks	Gregory Weldon	Dem
New York	Meng	Grace	Dem	Y
New York	Morelle	Joseph D. “Joe”	Dem
New York	Nadler	Jerrold Lewis “Jerry”	Dem
New York	Ocasio-Cortez	Alexandria	Dem	Y
New York	Rice	Kathleen M.	Dem	Y
New York	Rose	Max N.	Dem
New York	Serrano	Jose Enrique	Dem	Y
New York	Suozzi	Thomas R. “Tom”	Dem
New York	Tonko	Paul David	Dem	Y
New York	Velázquez	Nydia Margarita	Dem	Y	(9)
North Carolina	Adams	Alma Shealey	Dem	Y
North Carolina	Butterfield Jr.	George Kenneth “G. K.”	Dem	Y
North Carolina	Price	David Eugene	Dem	Y
Ohio	Beatty	Joyce B.	Dem	Y
Ohio	Fudge	Marcia L.	Dem	Y
Ohio	Kaptur	Marcia Carolyn “Marcy”	Dem
Ohio	Ryan	Timothy J. “Tim”	Dem	Y
Oklahoma	Horn	Kendra	Dem
Oregon	Blumenauer	Earl	Dem	Y
Oregon	Bonamici	Suzanne M.	Dem	Y
Oregon	DeFazio	Peter Anthony “Pete”	Dem	Y
Oregon	Schrader	Walter Kurt “Kurt”	Dem
Pennsylvania	Boyle	Brendan F.	Dem	Y
Pennsylvania	Cartwright	Matthew Alton “Matt”	Dem
Pennsylvania	Dean Cunnane	Madeleine	Dem	Y	🔺
Pennsylvania	Doyle	Michael F. “Mike”	Dem	Y
Pennsylvania	Evans	Dwight	Dem	Y
Pennsylvania	Houlahan	Christina Jampoler “Chrissy”	Dem
Pennsylvania	Lamb	Conor James	Dem
Pennsylvania	Scanlon	Mary Gay	Dem	Y	🔺
Pennsylvania	Wild	Susan Ellis	Dem
Rhode Island	Cicilline	David N.	Dem	Y	🔺
Rhode Island	Langevin	James R. “Jim”	Dem	Y
South Carolina	Clyburn	James Enos “Jim”	Dem
South Carolina	Cunningham	Joseph K. “Joe”	Dem
Tennessee	Cohen	Stephen Ira “Steve”	Dem	Y	🔺
Tennessee	Cooper	James H. S. “Jim”	Dem
Texas	Allred	Colin	Dem
Texas	Castro	Joaquin	Dem	Y
Texas	Cuellar	Henry R.	Dem
Texas	Doggett II	Lloyd Alton	Dem	Y
Texas	Escobar	Veronica	Dem	Y	🔺
Texas	Fletcher	Elizabeth Pannill “Lizzie”	Dem
Texas	Garcia	Sylvia R.	Dem
Texas	Gonzalez	Vicente	Dem
Texas	Green	Alexander “Al”	Dem	Y
Texas	Jackson Lee	Sheila	Dem	Y	🔺
Texas	Johnson	Eddie Bernice	Dem
Texas	Veasey	Marc Allison	Dem
Texas	Vela	Filemon B.	Dem	Y
Utah	McAdams	Ben	Dem
Vermont	Welch	Peter F.	Dem	Y
Virginia	Beyer Jr.	Donald Sternoff “Don”	Dem	Y
Virginia	Connolly	Gerald Edward “Gerry”	Dem	Y
Virginia	Luria	Elaine G.	Dem
Virginia	McEachin	Aston Donald “Donald”	Dem
Virginia	Scott	Robert Cortez “Bobby”	Dem
Virginia	Spanberger	Abigail A.	Dem
Virginia	Wexton	Jennifer T.	Dem	Y
Washington	Del Bene	Suzan Kay	Dem	Y
Washington	Heck	Dennis “Denny”	Dem	Y
Washington	Jayapal	Pramila	Dem	Y	🔺
Washington	Kilmer	Derek	Dem	Y
Washington	Larsen	Richard Ray “Rick”	Dem	Y
Washington	Schrier	Kim	Dem	Y
Washington	Smith	David Adam “Adam”	Dem	Y	(6)
Wisconsin	Kind	Ronald James “Ron”	Dem
Wisconsin	Moore	Gwendolynne S. “Gwen”	Dem	Y
Wisconsin	Pocan	Mark	Dem	Y

Alabama	Aderholt	Robert Brown	GOP
Alabama	Brooks Jr.	Morris J. “Mo”	GOP
Alabama	Byrne	Bradley Roberts	GOP
Alabama	Palmer	Gary	GOP
Alabama	Roby	Martha	GOP
Alabama	Rogers	Michael Dennis “Mike”	GOP
Alaska	Young	Donald E. “Don”	GOP
Arizona	Biggs	Andy	GOP
Arizona	Gosar	Paul Anthony	GOP
Arizona	Lesko	Debbie	GOP
Arizona	Schweikert	David	GOP
Arkansas	Crawford	Eric Alan “Rick”	GOP
Arkansas	Hill	James French “French”	GOP
Arkansas	Westerman	Bruce	GOP
Arkansas	Womack	Stephen A. “Steve”	GOP
California	Calvert	Kenneth S. “Ken”	GOP
California	Cook	Paul	GOP
California	Hunter	Duncan Duane	GOP
California	LaMalfa	Doug	GOP
California	McCarthy	Kevin	GOP
California	McClintock	Thomas “Tom”	GOP
California	Nunes	Devin Gerald	GOP
Colorado	Buck	Kenneth R. “Ken”	GOP
Colorado	Lamborn	Douglas L. “Doug”	GOP
Colorado	Tipton	Scott Randall	GOP
Florida	Bilirakis	Gus Michael	GOP
Florida	Buchanan	Vernon “Vern”	GOP
Florida	Diaz-Balart	Mario	GOP
Florida	Dunn	Neal Patrick	GOP
Florida	Gaetz	Matt	GOP
Florida	Mast	Brian	GOP
Florida	Posey	William “Bill”	GOP
Florida	Rooney	Francis	GOP
Florida	Rutherford	John	GOP
Florida	Spano	Vincent Ross “Ross”	GOP
Florida	Steube	Greg W.	GOP
Florida	Waltz	Michael “Mike”	GOP
Florida	Webster	Daniel “Dan”	GOP
Florida	Yoho	Theodore Scott “Ted”	GOP
Georgia	Allen	Richard Wallen “Rick”	GOP
Georgia	Carter	Earl Leroy “Buddy”	GOP
Georgia	Collins	Douglas Allen “Doug”	GOP
Georgia	Ferguson IV	Anderson Drew “Drew”	GOP
Georgia	Graves Jr.	John Thomas “Tom”	GOP
Georgia	Hice	Jody B.	GOP
Georgia	Loudermilk	Barry D.	GOP
Georgia	Scott	James Austin “Austin”	GOP
Georgia	Woodall III	William Robert “Rob”	GOP
Idaho	Fulcher	Russ	GOP
Idaho	Simpson	Michael Keith “Mike”	GOP
Illinois	Bost	Michael J. “Mike”	GOP
Illinois	Davis	Rodney L.	GOP
Illinois	Kinzinger	Adam	GOP
Illinois	LaHood	Darin McKay	GOP
Illinois	Shimkus	John M.	GOP
Indiana	Baird	James R. “Jim”	GOP
Indiana	Banks	James E. “Jim”	GOP
Indiana	Brooks	Susan W.	GOP
Indiana	Bucshon	Larry D.	GOP
Indiana	Hollingsworth III	Joseph A. “Trey”	GOP
Indiana	Pence	Gregory J. “Greg”	GOP
Indiana	Walorski	Jackie Swihart	GOP	see comment
Iowa	King	Steven A. “Steve”	GOP
Kansas	Estes	Ron	GOP
Kansas	Marshall	Roger W.	GOP
Kansas	Watkins	Steve	GOP
Kentucky	Barr	Garland “Andy”	GOP
Kentucky	Comer	James R.	GOP
Kentucky	Guthrie	Steven Brett “Brett”	GOP
Kentucky	Massie	Thomas H.	GOP
Kentucky	Rogers	Harold Dallas “Hal”	GOP
Louisiana	Abraham Jr.	Ralph Lee	GOP
Louisiana	Graves	Garret	GOP
Louisiana	Higgins	Clay	GOP
Louisiana	Johnson	James Michael “Mike”	GOP
Louisiana	Scalise	Stephen J. “Steve”	GOP
Maryland	Harris	Andrew P. “Andy”	GOP
Michigan	Amash	Justin	IND	Y
Michigan	Bergman	John W. “Jack”	GOP
Michigan	Huizenga	William P. “Bill”	GOP
Michigan	Mitchell III	Paul	GOP
Michigan	Moolenaar	John	GOP
Michigan	Upton	Frederick Stephen “Fred”	GOP
Michigan	Walberg	Timothy L. “Tim”	GOP
Minnesota	Emmer Jr.	Thomas Earl “Tom”	GOP
Minnesota	Hagedorn	James “Jim”	GOP
Minnesota	Stauber	Peter Allen “Pete”	GOP
Minnesota	Stauber	Peter Allen “Pete”	GOP
Mississippi	Guest	Michael Patrick	GOP
Mississippi	Kelly	John Trent “Trent”	GOP
Mississippi	Palazzo	Steven McCarty	GOP
Missouri	Graves Jr.	Samuel B. “Sam”	GOP
Missouri	Hartzler	Vicky Jo	GOP
Missouri	Long	Billy	GOP
Missouri	Luetkemeyer	W. Blaine	GOP
Missouri	Smith	Jason T.	GOP
Missouri	Wagner	Ann L.	GOP
Montana	Gianforte	Greg	GOP
Nebraska	Bacon	Donald John “Don”	GOP
Nebraska	Fortenberry	Jeffrey Lane “Jeff”	GOP
Nebraska	Smith	Adrian M.	GOP
Nevada	Amodei	Mark Eugene	GOP
New Jersey	Smith	Christopher Henry “Chris”	GOP
New York	Collins	Christopher Carl “Chris”	GOP
New York	Katko	John M.	GOP
New York	King	Peter T. “Pete”	GOP
New York	Reed II	Thomas W. “Tom”	GOP
New York	Stefanik	Elise M.	GOP
New York	Zeldin	Lee Michael	GOP
North Carolina	Budd	Theodore Paul “Ted”	GOP
North Carolina	Foxx	Virginia Ann	GOP
North Carolina	Holding	George Edward Bell	GOP
North Carolina	Hudson Jr.	Richard Lane	GOP
North Carolina	McHenry	Patrick Timothy	GOP
North Carolina	Meadows	Mark Randal	GOP
North Carolina	Rouzer	David Cheston	GOP
North Carolina	Walker	Bradley Mark “Mark”	GOP
North Dakota	Armstrong	Kelly M.	GOP
Ohio	Balderson	Troy	GOP
Ohio	Chabot	Steven J. “Steve”	GOP
Ohio	Davidson	Warren	GOP
Ohio	Gibbs	Robert Brian “Bob”	GOP
Ohio	Gonzalez	Anthony E.	GOP
Ohio	Johnson	Bill	GOP
Ohio	Jordan	James D. “Jim”	GOP
Ohio	Joyce	David P. “Dave”	GOP
Ohio	Latta	Robert Edward “Bob”	GOP
Ohio	Stivers	Steve E.	GOP
Ohio	Turner	Michael R. “Mike”	GOP
Ohio	Wenstrup	Brad R.	GOP
Oklahoma	Cole	Thomas Jeffery “Tom”	GOP
Oklahoma	Hern	Kevin R.	GOP
Oklahoma	Lucas	Frank D.	GOP
Oklahoma	Mullin	Markwayne	GOP
Oregon	Walden	Gregory Paul “Greg”	GOP
Pennsylvania	Fitzpatrick	Brian K.	GOP
Pennsylvania	Joyce	John	GOP
Pennsylvania	Kelly Jr.	George J. “Mike”	GOP
Pennsylvania	Marino	Thomas Anthony “Tom”	GOP
Pennsylvania	Meuser	Daniel P. “Dan”	GOP
Pennsylvania	Perry	Scott G.	GOP
Pennsylvania	Reschenthaler	Guy L.	GOP
Pennsylvania	Smucker	Lloyd K.	GOP
Pennsylvania	Thompson	Glenn William “G.T.”	GOP
South Carolina	Duncan	Jeffrey D. “Jeff”	GOP
South Carolina	Norman Jr.	Ralph W.	GOP
South Carolina	Rice Jr.	Hugh T. “Tom”	GOP
South Carolina	Timmons IV	William R.	GOP
South Carolina	Wilson	Addison Graves “Joe”	GOP
South Dakota	Johnson	Dustin “Dusty”	GOP
Tennessee	Burchett	Tim	GOP
Tennessee	DesJarlais	Scott Eugene	GOP
Tennessee	Fleischmann	Charles J. “Chuck”	GOP
Tennessee	Green	Mark E.	GOP
Tennessee	Kustoff	David	GOP
Tennessee	Roe	David Philip “Phil”	GOP
Tennessee	Rose	John W.	GOP
Texas	Arrington	Jodey Cook	GOP
Texas	Babin	Brian	GOP
Texas	Brady	Kevin Patrick	GOP
Texas	Burgess	Michael C.	GOP
Texas	Carter	John Rice	GOP
Texas	Cloud	Michael J.	GOP
Texas	Conaway	K. Michael “Mike”	GOP
Texas	Crenshaw	Daniel “Dan”	GOP
Texas	Flores	William “Bill”	GOP
Texas	Gohmert Jr.	Louis B. “Louie”	GOP
Texas	Gooden	Lance	GOP
Texas	Granger	Kay N.	GOP
Texas	Hurd	William “Will”	GOP
Texas	Marchant	Kenny Ewell	GOP
Texas	McCaul	Michael T.	GOP
Texas	Olson	Peter Graham “Pete”	GOP
Texas	Ratcliffe	John Lee	GOP
Texas	Roy	Chip	GOP
Texas	Taylor	Nicholas V. “Van”	GOP
Texas	Thornberry	William McClellan “Mac”	GOP
Texas	Weber	Randy	GOP
Texas	Williams	Roger	GOP
Texas	Wright	Ron	GOP
Utah	Bishop	Robert William “Rob”	GOP
Utah	Curtis	John	GOP
Utah	Stewart	Chris	GOP
Virginia	Cline	Benjamin Lee “Ben”	GOP
Virginia	Griffith	H. Morgan “Morgan”	GOP
Virginia	Riggleman III	Denver Lee	GOP
Virginia	Wittman	Robert J. “Rob”	GOP
Washington	Herrera Beutler	Jaime Lynn	GOP
Washington	McMorris Rodgers	Cathy Ann	GOP
Washington	Newhouse	Daniel Milton “Dan”	GOP
West Virginia	McKinley	David Bennett	GOP
West Virginia	Miller	Carol Devine	GOP
West Virginia	Mooney	Alexander Xavier “Alex”	GOP
Wisconsin	Duffy	Sean P.	GOP
Wisconsin	Gallagher	Michael John “Mike”	GOP
Wisconsin	Grothman	Glenn S.	GOP
Wisconsin	Sensenbrenner Jr.	Frank James “Jim”	GOP
Wisconsin	Steil	Bryan George	GOP
Wyoming	Cheney	Elizabeth “Liz”	GOP

North Carolina	Jones Jr. (RIP)	Walter B.	GOP		Open
North Carolina			GOP		Vacant Office

Emphasis indicates those who have committed to supporting an inquiry since the last whip update.

(1) Vice Chair, House Democratic Caucus

(2) Chair, House Ethics Committee

(3) Chair, House Foreign Affairs Committee

(4) Chair, House Appropriations Committee

(5) Chair, House Rules Committee

(6) Chair, House Armed Services Committee

(7) Member, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

(8) Chair, House Homeland Security Committee

(9) Chair, House Small Business Committee

(10) Chair, House Energy and Commerce Committee

(11) Chair, House Veterans’ Affairs Committee

* Ranking by Cook Partisan Voter Index (2018), indicating degree to which a House congressional district leans toward one of the two major parties.

Graphic: Quino Al via Unsplash (mod by Rayne)

Whip It Good: Higher and Higher

August 14, 2019/48 Comments/in Congress, Impeachment, Trump Administration /by Rayne

[NB: Check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

We could use a boost now as we work our way through the dog days of summer. Take a look at how far we’ve come even if it seems too slowly, measure our progress.

As of today we have 123 House Democrats supporting an impeachment inquiry.

This means we’ve picked up four more votes since the last Whip It post.

We need 95 more representatives to support a resolution approving an impeachment inquiry. It’s slow but steady progress.

Sure, we continue to hear that the House Judiciary Committee is working toward impeachment. HJC chair Jerry Nadler told CNN last week,

“This is formal impeachment proceedings…We are investigating all the evidence, we’re gathering the evidence. And we will at the conclusion of this — hopefully by the end of the year — vote to vote articles of impeachment to the House floor. Or we won’t. That’s a decision that we’ll have to make. But that’s exactly the process we’re in right now.”

But the HJC neither has a majority vote approving an impeachment inquiry within the committee nor a majority of the votes across the entire House — yet.

This only fuels the right-wing pundits who assure us attempts to impeach are doomed, DOOMED, they say.

Bah. Do take note of the source, like conservative think tanks’ thinky-tankers who are paid to both promote their conservative donor’s aspirations and sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

As I’ve noted before in previous Whip It posts, it’s still on us to make this happen by showing up at town halls our representatives have over the summer recess, by calling their offices in D.C. or locally, by sending faxes or using Resistbot to make our sentiments heard.

Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121

Call your representative (and only your representative) and ask them to support an impeachment inquiry. If your representative has already thrown their support behind an inquiry, do be sure to thank them.

It’s also time to take note of states in which too few Dems have thrown their support behind an inquiry. Like Connecticut — what the hell, Nutmeg State? What the actual hell?

This whip count will continue to be updated. Share in comments any new announcements by House members throwing support behind an impeachment inquiry.

State	Last	First, Middle, Nickname	Party Affiliation	Impeachment Inquiry Y/N	House Judiciary Committee
Alabama	Sewell	Terrycina Andrea “Terri”	Dem
Arizona	Gallego	Ruben	Dem	Y
Arizona	Grijalva	Raul M.	Dem	Y
Arizona	Kirkpatrick	Ann	Dem	Y
Arizona	O’Halleran	Tom	Dem
Arizona	Stanton	Greg	Dem	Y	🔺
California	Aguilar	Pete	Dem	Y
California	Barragán	Nanette Diaz	Dem	Y
California	Bass	Karen R.	Dem	Y see comment	🔺
California	Bera	Amerish “Ami”	Dem
California	Brownley	Julia	Dem	Y
California	Cardenas	Tony	Dem	Y
California	Carbajal	Salud O.	Dem	Y
California	Chu	Judy	Dem	Y
California	Cisneros	Gilbert “Gil”	Dem
California	Correa	Jose Luis “Lou”	Dem
California	Costa	Jim	Dem
California	Cox	Terrance John “TJ”	Dem
California	Davis	Susan A.	Dem
California	DeSaulnier	Mark	Dem	Y
California	Eshoo	Anna G.	Dem
California	Garamendi	John Raymond	Dem	Y
California	Gomez	Jimmy	Dem	Y
California	Harder	Josh	Dem
California	Hill	Katherine Lauren “Katie”	Dem
California	Huffman	Jared W.	Dem	Y
California	Khanna	Rohit “Ro”	Dem
California	Lee	Barbara	Dem	Y
California	Levin	Mike	Dem	Y
California	Lieu	Ted W.	Dem	Y	🔺
California	Lofgren	Zoe	Dem	see comment
California	Lowenthal	Alan S.	Dem	Y
California	Matsui	Doris K.	Dem	Y
California	McNerney	Gerald Mark “Jerry”	Dem
California	Napolitano	Grace Flores	Dem	Y
California	Panetta	James Varni “Jimmy”	Dem
California	Pelosi	Nancy	Dem
California	Peters	Scott	Dem	Y
California	Porter	Katherine “Katie”	Dem	Y
California	Rouda Jr.	Harley E.	Dem	Y
California	Roybal-Allard	Lucille	Dem	Y
California	Ruiz	Raul	Dem
California	Sanchez	Linda T.	Dem
California	Schiff	Adam B.	Dem
California	Sherman	Brad	Dem	Y
California	Speier	Jackie	Dem	Y
California	Swalwell	Eric Michael	Dem	Y	🔺 (7)
California	Takano	Mark A.	Dem	see comment
California	Thompson	C. Michael “Mike”	Dem
California	Torres	Norma J.	Dem	Y
California	Vargas	Juan C.	Dem	Y
California	Waters	Maxine	Dem	Y
Colorado	Crow	Jason	Dem	Y
Colorado	DeGette	Diana L.	Dem	Y
Colorado	Neguse	Joseph “Joe”	Dem	Y	🔺
Colorado	Perlmutter	Edwin G. “Ed”	Dem
Connecticut	Courtney	Joseph D. “Joe”	Dem
Connecticut	DeLauro	Rosa L.	Dem
Connecticut	Hayes	Jahana	Dem
Connecticut	Himes	Jim	Dem	Y
Connecticut	Larson	John B.	Dem
Delaware	Rochester	Lisa Blunt	Dem	Y
Florida	Castor	Katherine Anne “Kathy”	Dem
Florida	Crist	Charlie Joseph	Dem
Florida	Demings	Valdez “Val”	Dem	Y	🔺
Florida	Deutch	Theodore Eliot “Ted”	Dem	Y	🔺 (2)
Florida	Frankel	Lois J.	Dem
Florida	Hastings	Alcee L.	Dem
Florida	Lawson Jr.	Alfred “Al”	Dem
Florida	Mucarsel-Powell	Debbie	Dem	Y	🔺
Florida	Murphy	Stephanie	Dem
Florida	Shalala	Donna Elvira	Dem
Florida	Soto	Darren	Dem
Florida	Wasserman Schultz	Debbie	Dem
Florida	Wilson	Frederica S.	Dem
Georgia	Bishop Jr.	Sanford Dixon	Dem
Georgia	Johnson Jr.	Henry C. “Hank”	Dem
Georgia	Lewis	John R.	Dem
Georgia	McBath	Lucia Kay “Lucy”	Dem
Georgia	Scott	David Albert	Dem
Hawaii	Case	Edward E. “Ed”	Dem
Hawaii	Gabbard	Tulsi	Dem
Illinois	Bustos	Cheri	Dem
Illinois	Casten	Sean	Dem	Y
Illinois	Davis	Danny K.	Dem	Y
Illinois	Foster	G. William “Bill”	Dem
Illinois	Garcia	Jesus G. “Chuy”	Dem	Y
Illinois	Kelly	Robin L.	Dem	Y
Illinois	Krishnamoorthi	S. Raja	Dem
Illinois	Lipinski	Daniel William “Dan”	Dem
Illinois	Quigley	Mike	Dem	Y
Illinois	Rush	Bobby Lee	Dem	Y
Illinois	Schakowsky	Janice D. “Jan”	Dem	Y
Illinois	Schneider	Bradley Scott “Brad”	Dem
Illinois	Underwood	Lauren A.	Dem
Indiana	Carson	Andre D.	Dem	Y
Indiana	Visclosky	Peter J.	Dem
Iowa	Axne	Cindy	Dem
Iowa	Finkenauer	Abby	Dem
Iowa	Loebsack	David Wayne “Dave”	Dem
Kansas	Davids	Sharice	Dem
Kentucky	Yarmuth	John A.	Dem	Y
Louisiana	Richmond	Cedric L.	Dem	Y	🔺
Maine	Golden	Jared F.	Dem
Maine	Pingree	Chellie M.	Dem	Y
Maryland	Brown	Anthony Gregory	Dem
Maryland	Cummings	Elijah E.	Dem
Maryland	Hoyer	Steny Hamilton	Dem
Maryland	Raskin	Jamin B. “Jamie”	Dem	Y	🔺
Maryland	Ruppersberger III	Charles Albert Dutch “C.A. Dutch”	Dem
Maryland	Sarbanes	John Peter Spyros	Dem
Maryland	Trone	David	Dem
Massachusetts	Clark	Katherine M.	Dem	Y	(1)
Massachusetts	Keating	William Richard “Bill”	Dem
Massachusetts	Kennedy III	Joseph Patrick “Joe”	Dem	Y
Massachusetts	Lynch	Stephen F.	Dem
Massachusetts	McGovern	James P. “Jim”	Dem	Y	(5)
Massachusetts	Moulton	Seth W.	Dem	Y
Massachusetts	Neal	Richard E.	Dem
Massachusetts	Pressley	Ayanna S.	Dem	Y
Massachusetts	Trahan	Lori Loureiro	Dem	Y
Michigan	Dingell	Debbie	Dem
Michigan	Kildee	Daniel T. “Dan”	Dem	Y
Michigan	Lawrence	Brenda Lulenar	Dem	Y
Michigan	Levin	Andy	Dem	Y
Michigan	Slotkin	Elissa	Dem
Michigan	Stevens	Haley	Dem
Michigan	Tlaib	Rashida	Dem	Y
Minnesota	Craig	Angela Dawn “Angie”	Dem
Minnesota	McCollum	Betty	Dem	Y
Minnesota	Omar	Ilhan	Dem	Y
Minnesota	Peterson	Collin Clark	Dem
Minnesota	Phillips	Dean	Dem
Mississippi	Thompson	Bennie G.	Dem	Y	(8)
Missouri	Clay Jr.	William Lacy	Dem	Y
Missouri	Cleaver II	Emanuel	Dem	Y
Nevada	Horsford	Steven Alexzander	Dem
Nevada	Lee	Susan Kelley “Susie”	Dem
Nevada	Titus	Alice Costandina “Dina”	Dem	Y
New Hampshire	Kuster	Ann McLane “Annie”	Dem	Y
New Hampshire	Pappas	Christopher C. “Chris”	Dem	Y
New Jersey	Gottheimer	Joshua S. “Josh”	Dem
New Jersey	Kim	Andrew “Andy”	Dem
New Jersey	Malinowski	Tom	Dem	Y
New Jersey	Norcross	Donald W.	Dem	Y
New Jersey	Pallone Jr.	Frank	Dem	Y see comment	(10)
New Jersey	Pascrell Jr.	William J. “Bill”	Dem	Y
New Jersey	Payne Jr.	Donald M.	Dem	Y
New Jersey	Sherrill	Rebecca Michelle “Mikie”	Dem
New Jersey	Sires	Albio	Dem
New Jersey	Van Drew	Jeff	Dem
New Jersey	Watson Coleman	Bonnie	Dem	Y
New Mexico	Haaland	Debra A. “Deb”	Dem	Y
New Mexico	Lujan	Ben Ray	Dem
New Mexico	Torres Small	Xochitl	Dem
New York	Brindisi	Anthony J.	Dem
New York	Clarke	Yvette D.	Dem	Y
New York	Delgado	Antonio	Dem
New York	Engel	Eliot Lance	Dem	Y	(3)
New York	Espaillat	Adriano	Dem	Y
New York	Higgins	Brian M.	Dem	Y
New York	Jeffries	Hakeem S.	Dem
New York	Lowey	Nita M.	Dem	Y	(4)
New York	Maloney	Carolyn Bosher	Dem	Y
New York	Maloney	Sean Patrick	Dem
New York	Meeks	Gregory Weldon	Dem
New York	Meng	Grace	Dem	Y
New York	Morelle	Joseph D. “Joe”	Dem
New York	Nadler	Jerrold Lewis “Jerry”	Dem
New York	Ocasio-Cortez	Alexandria	Dem	Y
New York	Rice	Kathleen M.	Dem	Y
New York	Rose	Max N.	Dem
New York	Serrano	Jose Enrique	Dem	Y
New York	Suozzi	Thomas R. “Tom”	Dem
New York	Tonko	Paul David	Dem	Y
New York	Velázquez	Nydia Margarita	Dem	Y	(9)
North Carolina	Adams	Alma Shealey	Dem	Y
North Carolina	Butterfield Jr.	George Kenneth “G. K.”	Dem	Y
North Carolina	Price	David Eugene	Dem	Y
Ohio	Beatty	Joyce B.	Dem	Y
Ohio	Fudge	Marcia L.	Dem	Y
Ohio	Kaptur	Marcia Carolyn “Marcy”	Dem
Ohio	Ryan	Timothy J. “Tim”	Dem	Y
Oklahoma	Horn	Kendra	Dem
Oregon	Blumenauer	Earl	Dem	Y
Oregon	Bonamici	Suzanne M.	Dem	Y
Oregon	DeFazio	Peter Anthony “Pete”	Dem	Y
Oregon	Schrader	Walter Kurt “Kurt”	Dem
Pennsylvania	Boyle	Brendan F.	Dem	Y
Pennsylvania	Cartwright	Matthew Alton “Matt”	Dem
Pennsylvania	Dean Cunnane	Madeleine	Dem	Y	🔺
Pennsylvania	Doyle	Michael F. “Mike”	Dem	Y
Pennsylvania	Evans	Dwight	Dem	Y
Pennsylvania	Houlahan	Christina Jampoler “Chrissy”	Dem
Pennsylvania	Lamb	Conor James	Dem
Pennsylvania	Scanlon	Mary Gay	Dem	Y	🔺
Pennsylvania	Wild	Susan Ellis	Dem
Rhode Island	Cicilline	David N.	Dem	Y	🔺
Rhode Island	Langevin	James R. “Jim”	Dem
South Carolina	Clyburn	James Enos “Jim”	Dem
South Carolina	Cunningham	Joseph K. “Joe”	Dem
Tennessee	Cohen	Stephen Ira “Steve”	Dem	Y	🔺
Tennessee	Cooper	James H. S. “Jim”	Dem
Texas	Allred	Colin	Dem
Texas	Castro	Joaquin	Dem	Y
Texas	Cuellar	Henry R.	Dem
Texas	Doggett II	Lloyd Alton	Dem	Y
Texas	Escobar	Veronica	Dem	Y	🔺
Texas	Fletcher	Elizabeth Pannill “Lizzie”	Dem
Texas	Garcia	Sylvia R.	Dem
Texas	Gonzalez	Vicente	Dem
Texas	Green	Alexander “Al”	Dem	Y
Texas	Jackson Lee	Sheila	Dem	Y	🔺
Texas	Johnson	Eddie Bernice	Dem
Texas	Veasey	Marc Allison	Dem
Texas	Vela	Filemon B.	Dem	Y
Utah	McAdams	Ben	Dem
Vermont	Welch	Peter F.	Dem	Y
Virginia	Beyer Jr.	Donald Sternoff “Don”	Dem	Y
Virginia	Connolly	Gerald Edward “Gerry”	Dem	Y
Virginia	Luria	Elaine G.	Dem
Virginia	McEachin	Aston Donald “Donald”	Dem
Virginia	Scott	Robert Cortez “Bobby”	Dem
Virginia	Spanberger	Abigail A.	Dem
Virginia	Wexton	Jennifer T.	Dem	Y
Washington	Del Bene	Suzan Kay	Dem	Y
Washington	Heck	Dennis “Denny”	Dem	Y
Washington	Jayapal	Pramila	Dem	Y	🔺
Washington	Kilmer	Derek	Dem	Y
Washington	Larsen	Richard Ray “Rick”	Dem	Y
Washington	Schrier	Kim	Dem	Y
Washington	Smith	David Adam “Adam”	Dem	Y	(6)
Wisconsin	Kind	Ronald James “Ron”	Dem
Wisconsin	Moore	Gwendolynne S. “Gwen”	Dem	Y
Wisconsin	Pocan	Mark	Dem	Y

Alabama	Aderholt	Robert Brown	GOP
Alabama	Brooks Jr.	Morris J. “Mo”	GOP
Alabama	Byrne	Bradley Roberts	GOP
Alabama	Palmer	Gary	GOP
Alabama	Roby	Martha	GOP
Alabama	Rogers	Michael Dennis “Mike”	GOP
Alaska	Young	Donald E. “Don”	GOP
Arizona	Biggs	Andy	GOP
Arizona	Gosar	Paul Anthony	GOP
Arizona	Lesko	Debbie	GOP
Arizona	Schweikert	David	GOP
Arkansas	Crawford	Eric Alan “Rick”	GOP
Arkansas	Hill	James French “French”	GOP
Arkansas	Westerman	Bruce	GOP
Arkansas	Womack	Stephen A. “Steve”	GOP
California	Calvert	Kenneth S. “Ken”	GOP
California	Cook	Paul	GOP
California	Hunter	Duncan Duane	GOP
California	LaMalfa	Doug	GOP
California	McCarthy	Kevin	GOP
California	McClintock	Thomas “Tom”	GOP
California	Nunes	Devin Gerald	GOP
Colorado	Buck	Kenneth R. “Ken”	GOP
Colorado	Lamborn	Douglas L. “Doug”	GOP
Colorado	Tipton	Scott Randall	GOP
Florida	Bilirakis	Gus Michael	GOP
Florida	Buchanan	Vernon “Vern”	GOP
Florida	Diaz-Balart	Mario	GOP
Florida	Dunn	Neal Patrick	GOP
Florida	Gaetz	Matt	GOP
Florida	Mast	Brian	GOP
Florida	Posey	William “Bill”	GOP
Florida	Rooney	Francis	GOP
Florida	Rutherford	John	GOP
Florida	Spano	Vincent Ross “Ross”	GOP
Florida	Steube	Greg W.	GOP
Florida	Waltz	Michael “Mike”	GOP
Florida	Webster	Daniel “Dan”	GOP
Florida	Yoho	Theodore Scott “Ted”	GOP
Georgia	Allen	Richard Wallen “Rick”	GOP
Georgia	Carter	Earl Leroy “Buddy”	GOP
Georgia	Collins	Douglas Allen “Doug”	GOP
Georgia	Ferguson IV	Anderson Drew “Drew”	GOP
Georgia	Graves Jr.	John Thomas “Tom”	GOP
Georgia	Hice	Jody B.	GOP
Georgia	Loudermilk	Barry D.	GOP
Georgia	Scott	James Austin “Austin”	GOP
Georgia	Woodall III	William Robert “Rob”	GOP
Idaho	Fulcher	Russ	GOP
Idaho	Simpson	Michael Keith “Mike”	GOP
Illinois	Bost	Michael J. “Mike”	GOP
Illinois	Davis	Rodney L.	GOP
Illinois	Kinzinger	Adam	GOP
Illinois	LaHood	Darin McKay	GOP
Illinois	Shimkus	John M.	GOP
Indiana	Baird	James R. “Jim”	GOP
Indiana	Banks	James E. “Jim”	GOP
Indiana	Brooks	Susan W.	GOP
Indiana	Bucshon	Larry D.	GOP
Indiana	Hollingsworth III	Joseph A. “Trey”	GOP
Indiana	Pence	Gregory J. “Greg”	GOP
Indiana	Walorski	Jackie Swihart	GOP	see comment
Iowa	King	Steven A. “Steve”	GOP
Kansas	Estes	Ron	GOP
Kansas	Marshall	Roger W.	GOP
Kansas	Watkins	Steve	GOP
Kentucky	Barr	Garland “Andy”	GOP
Kentucky	Comer	James R.	GOP
Kentucky	Guthrie	Steven Brett “Brett”	GOP
Kentucky	Massie	Thomas H.	GOP
Kentucky	Rogers	Harold Dallas “Hal”	GOP
Louisiana	Abraham Jr.	Ralph Lee	GOP
Louisiana	Graves	Garret	GOP
Louisiana	Higgins	Clay	GOP
Louisiana	Johnson	James Michael “Mike”	GOP
Louisiana	Scalise	Stephen J. “Steve”	GOP
Maryland	Harris	Andrew P. “Andy”	GOP
Michigan	Amash	Justin	IND	Y
Michigan	Bergman	John W. “Jack”	GOP
Michigan	Huizenga	William P. “Bill”	GOP
Michigan	Mitchell III	Paul	GOP
Michigan	Moolenaar	John	GOP
Michigan	Upton	Frederick Stephen “Fred”	GOP
Michigan	Walberg	Timothy L. “Tim”	GOP
Minnesota	Emmer Jr.	Thomas Earl “Tom”	GOP
Minnesota	Hagedorn	James “Jim”	GOP
Minnesota	Stauber	Peter Allen “Pete”	GOP
Minnesota	Stauber	Peter Allen “Pete”	GOP
Mississippi	Guest	Michael Patrick	GOP
Mississippi	Kelly	John Trent “Trent”	GOP
Mississippi	Palazzo	Steven McCarty	GOP
Missouri	Graves Jr.	Samuel B. “Sam”	GOP
Missouri	Hartzler	Vicky Jo	GOP
Missouri	Long	Billy	GOP
Missouri	Luetkemeyer	W. Blaine	GOP
Missouri	Smith	Jason T.	GOP
Missouri	Wagner	Ann L.	GOP
Montana	Gianforte	Greg	GOP
Nebraska	Bacon	Donald John “Don”	GOP
Nebraska	Fortenberry	Jeffrey Lane “Jeff”	GOP
Nebraska	Smith	Adrian M.	GOP
Nevada	Amodei	Mark Eugene	GOP
New Jersey	Smith	Christopher Henry “Chris”	GOP
New York	Collins	Christopher Carl “Chris”	GOP
New York	Katko	John M.	GOP
New York	King	Peter T. “Pete”	GOP
New York	Reed II	Thomas W. “Tom”	GOP
New York	Stefanik	Elise M.	GOP
New York	Zeldin	Lee Michael	GOP
North Carolina	Budd	Theodore Paul “Ted”	GOP
North Carolina	Foxx	Virginia Ann	GOP
North Carolina	Holding	George Edward Bell	GOP
North Carolina	Hudson Jr.	Richard Lane	GOP
North Carolina	McHenry	Patrick Timothy	GOP
North Carolina	Meadows	Mark Randal	GOP
North Carolina	Rouzer	David Cheston	GOP
North Carolina	Walker	Bradley Mark “Mark”	GOP
North Dakota	Armstrong	Kelly M.	GOP
Ohio	Balderson	Troy	GOP
Ohio	Chabot	Steven J. “Steve”	GOP
Ohio	Davidson	Warren	GOP
Ohio	Gibbs	Robert Brian “Bob”	GOP
Ohio	Gonzalez	Anthony E.	GOP
Ohio	Johnson	Bill	GOP
Ohio	Jordan	James D. “Jim”	GOP
Ohio	Joyce	David P. “Dave”	GOP
Ohio	Latta	Robert Edward “Bob”	GOP
Ohio	Stivers	Steve E.	GOP
Ohio	Turner	Michael R. “Mike”	GOP
Ohio	Wenstrup	Brad R.	GOP
Oklahoma	Cole	Thomas Jeffery “Tom”	GOP
Oklahoma	Hern	Kevin R.	GOP
Oklahoma	Lucas	Frank D.	GOP
Oklahoma	Mullin	Markwayne	GOP
Oregon	Walden	Gregory Paul “Greg”	GOP
Pennsylvania	Fitzpatrick	Brian K.	GOP
Pennsylvania	Joyce	John	GOP
Pennsylvania	Kelly Jr.	George J. “Mike”	GOP
Pennsylvania	Marino	Thomas Anthony “Tom”	GOP
Pennsylvania	Meuser	Daniel P. “Dan”	GOP
Pennsylvania	Perry	Scott G.	GOP
Pennsylvania	Reschenthaler	Guy L.	GOP
Pennsylvania	Smucker	Lloyd K.	GOP
Pennsylvania	Thompson	Glenn William “G.T.”	GOP
South Carolina	Duncan	Jeffrey D. “Jeff”	GOP
South Carolina	Norman Jr.	Ralph W.	GOP
South Carolina	Rice Jr.	Hugh T. “Tom”	GOP
South Carolina	Timmons IV	William R.	GOP
South Carolina	Wilson	Addison Graves “Joe”	GOP
South Dakota	Johnson	Dustin “Dusty”	GOP
Tennessee	Burchett	Tim	GOP
Tennessee	DesJarlais	Scott Eugene	GOP
Tennessee	Fleischmann	Charles J. “Chuck”	GOP
Tennessee	Green	Mark E.	GOP
Tennessee	Kustoff	David	GOP
Tennessee	Roe	David Philip “Phil”	GOP
Tennessee	Rose	John W.	GOP
Texas	Arrington	Jodey Cook	GOP
Texas	Babin	Brian	GOP
Texas	Brady	Kevin Patrick	GOP
Texas	Burgess	Michael C.	GOP
Texas	Carter	John Rice	GOP
Texas	Cloud	Michael J.	GOP
Texas	Conaway	K. Michael “Mike”	GOP
Texas	Crenshaw	Daniel “Dan”	GOP
Texas	Flores	William “Bill”	GOP
Texas	Gohmert Jr.	Louis B. “Louie”	GOP
Texas	Gooden	Lance	GOP
Texas	Granger	Kay N.	GOP
Texas	Hurd	William “Will”	GOP
Texas	Marchant	Kenny Ewell	GOP
Texas	McCaul	Michael T.	GOP
Texas	Olson	Peter Graham “Pete”	GOP
Texas	Ratcliffe	John Lee	GOP
Texas	Roy	Chip	GOP
Texas	Taylor	Nicholas V. “Van”	GOP
Texas	Thornberry	William McClellan “Mac”	GOP
Texas	Weber	Randy	GOP
Texas	Williams	Roger	GOP
Texas	Wright	Ron	GOP
Utah	Bishop	Robert William “Rob”	GOP
Utah	Curtis	John	GOP
Utah	Stewart	Chris	GOP
Virginia	Cline	Benjamin Lee “Ben”	GOP
Virginia	Griffith	H. Morgan “Morgan”	GOP
Virginia	Riggleman III	Denver Lee	GOP
Virginia	Wittman	Robert J. “Rob”	GOP
Washington	Herrera Beutler	Jaime Lynn	GOP
Washington	McMorris Rodgers	Cathy Ann	GOP
Washington	Newhouse	Daniel Milton “Dan”	GOP
West Virginia	McKinley	David Bennett	GOP
West Virginia	Miller	Carol Devine	GOP
West Virginia	Mooney	Alexander Xavier “Alex”	GOP
Wisconsin	Duffy	Sean P.	GOP
Wisconsin	Gallagher	Michael John “Mike”	GOP
Wisconsin	Grothman	Glenn S.	GOP
Wisconsin	Sensenbrenner Jr.	Frank James “Jim”	GOP
Wisconsin	Steil	Bryan George	GOP
Wyoming	Cheney	Elizabeth “Liz”	GOP

North Carolina	Jones Jr. (RIP)	Walter B.	GOP		Open
North Carolina			GOP		Vacant Office

Emphasis indicates those who have committed to supporting an inquiry since the last whip update.

(1) Vice Chair, House Democratic Caucus

(2) Chair, House Ethics Committee

(3) Chair, House Foreign Affairs Committee

(4) Chair, House Appropriations Committee

(5) Chair, House Rules Committee

(6) Chair, House Armed Services Committee

(7) Member, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

(8) Chair, House Homeland Security Committee

(9) Chair, House Small Business Committee

(10) Chair, House Energy and Commerce Committee

ODNI Whistleblower Complaint: The Next ConFraudUS? [UPDATE-4]

ODNI Whistleblower Complaint: Shoes Dropping All Over the Place [UPDATE-2]

Something Smells — and It’s Not Burning Oil

Crowdsource: Build a Timeline on ODNI Whistleblower Complaint [UPDATED-4]

History’s Rhyme, Part 5: Bad Faith, Unauthorized Acts and Crimes Against Humanity

Scotland: A Nexus for Trouble?

Three Things: Corrupt, More Corrupt, and Stumbling Naifs

Commuting Blago’s Wildly Excessive Sentence Would Be Right For Trump To Do

Whip It Good: Crack That Whip [UPDATED-5]

Whip It Good: Higher and Higher

Interesting links

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