'Toontime: House Painter on Trial

As the long awaited Senate trial gets under way with ceremonial hoopla (fortunately somewhat subdued compared to the monarchical Brits) the current question for the cynical US Person is: why is not Lev Parnas, who is singing like a canary in a coal mine, immediately being deposed under oath by the House investigating committees? Even if he is allowed to testify at Trumpillini's show trial, his testimony needs to be nailed down under oath, first. If the grifter lies for whatever unknown motivvations, perjury can be added to the list of felonies he is confronting in SDNY. He did after all, provide receipts. The impeachment managers are almost all lawyers and some even have federal prosecutorial experience, so what gives? Are they serious, or only providing a reality-TV show for the rubes at home? (Perhaps US Person's cynicism is caused by the spectacle of partisan hack 'Moscow Mitch' McConnell solemnly swearing to be an impartial juror while simultaneously trying to railroad an acquittal without witnesses in record time.)

The only thing perfect about Il Douche's phone call to Zelensky is that it is PERFECTLY SELF INCRIMINATING. So pile on the corroborating evidence, Adam even if it means feeding his Senate lackeys  an H. Biden nothing burger! It is not the wildly vacillating Don Veto Trumpillini on trial, but kleptocracy itself--a far cry from 'Bubba' Clinton's illicit sex acts!

credit: Ann Telnaes, Washington Post
Wackydoodle sez: Congrats on yer Donald, Comrade!

{16.01.2020} Ghouly's fellow flying monkey, the indicted Lev Parnas, is desperate to cut a deal with SDNY prosecutors, so he turned over documents with court permission concerning his efforts to do the boss' wishes in Ukraine. Needless to say, those add color to the already clear picture of Trumpilini's CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY to extort political dirt on Joe Biden. One note on Vienna's Ritz-Carlton hotel letterhead in Parnas' handwriting says, "Get Zalensky to announce Biden case will be investigated", apparently that is a contemporaneous note from a phone call with Rudy Giuliani and one more smoking gun that obliterates the 'anti-corruption' defense of the criminal conspirator-president.  In a letter R. Ghouly makes it perfectly clear he is operating as citizen Trump's personal lawyer with his knowledge and consent.  So much for the 'rogue operator' defense.  Trumpillini may continue to claim he does not know Lev Parnas, but his current defense lawyer Jay Sekulow does, because he wrote in a letter that he has discussed the representation of Parnas and Furman, with the President. King Orange's guilt gets harder to ignore or deny by the minute.

Part of the machinations of Lev Parnass and Giuliani on behalf of Trumpilini included a persistent effort to remove US Ambassador Yavonovitch, who was seen by the conspirators as an impediment to their getting what they wanted out of Ukraine.  In fact, it was the corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor general Yuri Lutsenko who was demanding her recall in return for providing dirt on the  Bidens. Yovanovitch had publicly criticized Lutsenko for his lack of anti-corruption efforts. The conspirators were willing to give Lutsenko what he wanted. Later, Yovonovitch was abruptly recalled with the State Department citing "security concerns".  Parnas' divulged text messages reveal that Yovanovitch may have been subjected to surveillance in Ukraine by a possibly mentally ill American colleague running for Congress in Connecticut who offered to get a price for her ouster*, telling Lev anything could be done for money in Ukraine.  The "drug deal" only gets weirder.

credit: Ed Wexler
BC Idonwanna sez: You plenty loco too!

*Ukraine's interior ministry announced it is investigating the possibility that the former US Ambassador was subjected to illegal surveillance while on station, a violation of the Geneva Diplomatic Convention. The Republican Party chairman in Connecticut, where Robert Hyde is one of several Republicans vying to challenge Democratic Rep. Jahana Hayes this fall, is calling on Hyde to drop out of the race.