One of the White House impeachment lawyers, Robert Ray, sits down for an interview with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the impeachment trial.
As customary with most high-profile defense team assemblies, it would appear there are three or four of the team who have been selected primarily to articulate the legal arguments in the media arena; while the co-lead counsels (Cipollone & Sekulow) focus on the trial detail and presentations therein.

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Previous discussion HERE.
Virginia government officials have made extensive preparations ahead of tomorrow’s planned Second Amendment “Lobby Day” protests.  Earlier today a videographer named Stephen B walked through the capitol grounds to highlight the extensive fencing assembled by authorities.  Some slightly salty language:

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Additionally, the Virginia State Police are taking the planned protest quite seriously. In a Twitter video below law enforcement show up at a man’s home, 100 miles from the venue, to question him based on a “tip”, and suspecting some thought crimes may be committed.
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Texas Senator Ted Cruz appears on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo for a lengthy discussion of the upcoming senate impeachment trial.  Senator Cruz does not currently support subpoenas for witnesses; however, if the full senate votes to call prosecution witnesses Cruz would support reciprocal witnesses for President Trump.
Senator Cruz walks through the anticipated process including the “scheduling order” or senate rules within the impeachment process.  Twelve hours of prosecution, twelve hours of defense, sixteen hours of senator questioning, and then possibly a vote.

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Updating a story we shared last night; and the latest information only makes the situation seem much worse.   To say this story is infuriating would be an understatement.
As an individual with some personal knowledge of how the recovery process works, the actions by these government officials in Puerto Rico are beyond tragic.  There are people in desperate need, and these stupid claims by officials do nothing to ameliorate ongoing suffering.  This is disgusting and heartbreaking at the same time.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Gov. Wanda Vázquez fired the heads of Puerto Rico’s housing and family departments Sunday in the latest fallout over the discovery of a warehouse filled with emergency supplies dating from Hurricane Maria.

The removal of Housing Secretary Fernando Gil and Department of Family Secretary Glorimar Andújar came a day after the governor fired the director of Puerto Rico’s emergency management agency.

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Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz is a member of the white house legal team from the perspective of constitutional law.  In this interview George Stephanopoulos was in his old familiar role as a political narrative engineer, trying to get Dershowitz to say he did not agree with the President.  The engineering objective was “Trump Lawyer says President Guilty”.

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In advance of the formal answer to the Senate summons, the White House counsel held a background press briefing with media.  Here’s the transcript as released:
MR. GIDLEY: Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking the time to join this background call regarding impeachment.
The ground rules are as follows: Information on this call is on background, and can attributable to “sources close to the President’s legal team.”
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks, Hogan. I’m going to start, and then I’m sure my colleague is going to want to jump in.
So, from a procedural standpoint, we’re going to be filing in the next — probably next hour or two — our answer to the summons. [pdf Answer Here] This was the summons, which is part of the process that the Senate sent over to us with the articles of impeachment. We are issuing a very detailed response. This is not to be confused with our brief; our brief is not due until Monday.
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Folks, this is alarming.  An explosive video from Puerto Rico shows a massive warehouse of emergency hurricane relief supplies discovered highlighting emergency supplies delivered in the aftermath of hurricane Maria that were never distributed.

The warehouse was discovered after the recent earthquake, and the building suffering damage. After CTH initially saw the report, I had to go find the raw video to see just how much 2017 aid was being hidden in this warehouse; and the full video is simply stunning.  First, the report:

(VIA CBS) Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced fired the island’s emergency management director on Saturday, after a video showing aid sitting unused in a warehouse went viral on social media. Some of the aid has allegedly been sitting in the warehouse since Hurricane Maria struck in 2017.
“There are thousands of people who have made sacrifices to help those in the south, and it is unforgivable that resources were kept in the warehouse,” Vázquez said in a statement.

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A response to the formal summons from the Senate, notifying the Executive Office of the President of impeachment proceedings, was due at 6:00pm ET today.   The White House has responded [WH pdf link – and embed below] with a seven-page position answer.

[Via White House] THE HONORABLE DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, HEREBY RESPONDS:
The Articles of Impeachment submitted by House Democrats are a dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their President. This is a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election—now just months away. The highly partisan and reckless obsession with impeaching the President began the day he was inaugurated and continues to this day.

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It has always been a curious question about who released the controversial text messages between FBI lawyer Lisa Page and FBI Supervisory Agent Peter Strzok.  In a DOJ court brief (full pdf below) in support of a motion to dismiss the lawsuit of Peter Strzok, former Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein explains how and why he authorized the release:
It would have been a little more interesting if Rosenstein could have narrowed down the timing of OIG notification from “in the summer of 2017”, as it would outline specifically when Rosenstein became aware of the controversial issue.  Before or after he joined the crew in authorizing -and signing- a false FISA application?….
Obviously, at least in my opinion, the lack of specificity here is evidence of Rosenstein’s CYA motive.  If Rosenstein was aware of the texts from inside the key participants of the Crossfire Hurricane team, prior to authorizing the third FISA renewal… he was either a complete doofus, or complicit and willfully blind.   I digress.
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There is a remarkable confluence of data-points surrounding a second amendment rally in Virginia this holiday weekend that bear a strong note of caution.  Something akin to an astroturf event appears in the background.  ♦ Data-points:
♦ Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is running for President.  Bloomberg has funded the majority of Virginia anti-gun legislators who are now proposing considerable restrictions on lawful gun ownership in the commonwealth.
♦ It is also worth noting in the wake of the astro-turfed Charlottesville narrative, the professional political messaging of the Democrat apparatus, via Joe Biden, proclaimed in April 2019 that Charlottesville represented “the battle for the soul of this nation.”
If there is one consistent aspect to DNC activists (Occupy Wall Street, Antifa etc.), it’s that they use the same playbook.
♦ Provoking civil unrest to achieve political objectives is a well known strategy of the Alinsky wing of the apparatus.  ie. “never let a crisis go to waste”; and they are very good at creating the appearance of an organic crisis.  It’s usually in hindsight when the astroturf originating the crisis is identified.
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