Add it to the articles
One thing Maguire was firm on was reiterating that the still-anonymous whistleblower was judged to be “credible” by the intelligence community’s inspector general and that he deserved the full protection and security afforded to him by the law. “That individual works for me, therefore it is my job to make sure I support and defend that person. … I think the whistleblower did the right thing,” said Maguire.
Turns out his boss has a different view on the whistleblowing process! From the Los Angeles Times’ account of Trump’s remarks Thursday to a group of U.S. diplomatic staffers in New York (audio here):
“I want to know who’s the person, who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy,” he continued. “You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”
Trump was alluding to the fact that the whistleblower’s memo included information he’d been given by other officials, other officials who would therefore potentially be what’s known as “witnesses.” Less than 48 hours since the Democrats announced they were formally opening impeachment investigations, then, Trump has obligingly given them another section to add to the eventual articles.
He’ll add more before he’s through.
I was really against the whole idea of impeachment (for realpolitik reasons) but damn, you really can’t not go through impeachment proceedings at this point. Even if it hands him the election…
Frankly, I don’t think he needed that to hand him the election. I think this country has gone out of its collective mind. A few pockets of sanity still exist. I am told there is one such pocket in Seattle.
Well no, he doesn’t need impeachment proceedings to hand him the election… at the same time he’s not in an ideal place to win re-election considering he just scraped by last time even with a perfect storm of events aiding him. He needs his Rust Belt votes to win and there’s no guarantee he’d get them, especially with Biden in the race.
He can’t wait 5 minutes before threatening to execute witnesses. What a pile of malevolent bile he is.
Call me madcap, but might one be forgiven for asking if Trump’s calls for the head of the whistleblower might be construed as obstruction of justice?
Why yes, they might. Several law-involved people were saying so on Twitter yesterday. I think Richard Painter was one.