F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that “the truest sign of intelligence is the ability to entertain two contradictory ideas simultaneously.” If so, Capitol Hill this week seems like a Mensa convention.
This week, House Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., slammed the Oversight Committee Republicans for refusing a demand from Hunter Biden that he be allowed to skip a closed-door deposition and only testify in public. Raskin was appalled despite the fact that he and his Democratic colleagues insisted on the very same practice when they controlled the House.
Raskin declared that the position of the GOP is an “epic humiliation” and the insistence on a deposition is “a frank confession that they are simply not interested in the facts and have no confidence in their own case or the ability of their own Members to pursue it.”
He added:
“Let me get this straight. After wailing and moaning for ten months about Hunter Biden and alluding to some vast unproven family conspiracy, after sending Hunter Biden a subpoena to appear and testify, Chairman Comer and the Oversight Republicans now reject his offer to appear before the full Committee and the eyes of the world and to answer any questions that they pose?”
This is the same Rep. Raskin who sat on the Jan. 6th Committee, which held extensive close-door depositions with witnesses and then held tightly scripted public hearings where witnesses seemed like props in a television production.
That was the same committee that rejected an offer of a key witness, Stewart Rhodes, to testify in a public hearing. The Committee conducted extensive closed-door sessions with witnesses and then called a few to answer specific questions in hearings that were produced with the help of a former network producer.
A congressional subpoena is not like an invitation to a debutante ball where you can choose the time and conditions of your grand entry. By the time a subpoena is issued, you are largely past the negotiation stage.
The use of a close-door deposition serves some obvious purposes. Due to years of delay, Hunter will now face a massive amount of evidence collected by the committee from accounts, messages, and prior depositions of other witnesses. Some of this material can raise confidential material that might not be subject to public disclosure.
There are also obvious tactical benefits from such depositions. They can lock in a witness on an account. Indeed, they can easily trap a witnesses who strays from a practiced narrative — conflicts that come at the risk of criminal incrimination. Finally, they allow the Committee to focus on the most productive areas for the public hearings — the very function used by Raskin and his colleagues in prior hearings.
Hunter is looking at the worst possible conditions for sworn testimony. He is appearing near the end of the investigation after other testimony and evidence have been reviewed and prepared. Any false statement can result in a new criminal charge. While the Justice Department inexplicably allowed the statute of limitations to run on past felonies, any false statement would create a “new set of downs” for prosecutors in seeking criminal charges.
While Hunter has insisted that he would only testify at “the right time” and only in public, he has reached the point of diminishing options and rising risks. A refusal to appear could trigger a contempt charge — a charge that Attorney General Merrick Garland has aggressively used against Trump associates.
In his letter, Hunter Biden’s counsel Abbe Lowell denounced the subpoena and noted that “Hunter is a private person who has never worked in any family business nor ever served in the White House or in any public office.” Of course, the investigation is exploring long-standing allegations that influence peddling was the Biden family business.
Hunter has long been able to count on an enabling and at times fawning media to avoid answering difficult questions. That will now end with this subpoena. As for the Democrats, they will be faced with the very same process that they used in prior investigations. The alarm over the appearance of Hunter under oath in a deposition is justified, but the objections are not.
How does Joe Biden manage to get money in his pocket? This question and legality are tossed around a lot, so here is one part of it in detail.
—
“The memo shows that the bank investigator identified Hunter Biden as a Politically Exposed Person (PEP), which is a widely used term in financial industry money laundering reviews to classify a person who is either “entrusted with a prominent public function” or a family member of one who is, according to The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. “
https://www.ffiec.gov/press/PDF/Politically-Exposed-Persons.pdf
https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/bank-raised-red-flags-about-5-million-loan-chinese-firm-hunter?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
Being labeled a PEP does not mean the individual has engaged in wrongdoing of any kind.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance is a required diligence review for financial transactions. Judges, for example, if somehow tied to an investment, would be labeled a PEP because of their public function. Same with family members of public figures. This just means that financial transactions, in which the PEP is a beneficial owner of a relevant party undergo additional diligence procedures.
If this came from “Just The News,” then this a yet another reason to ignore this “news” source. Even a basic level of journalistic investigation would clarify that being labeled a PEP does not mean anything sinister.
What an ignorant comment. You don’t like the explanation because Joe Biden is a crook, and his son enables him. These facts are evident based on what has been released to date. I understand your ignorance because you aren’t too bright, but your following statement is a lie about Just the News.
JTN is seldom wrong about the facts, whereas the leftist NYT and WaPo frequently lie about facts and spin. I can prove the latter, but you cannot prove what you said.
That places you between Bug, a know-nothing liar of convenience, and ATS (Anonymous the Stupid). That position is not one many people strive for.
OT: “China is running an operation to get Americans hooked on illegal drugs, former DEA boss warns …
China is providing Mexican drug cartels the precursor chemicals to make the fentanyl flowing into America.
All over America every day, Chinese nationals are picking up large sums of cash from the Mexican cartel operatives, all over the country. ”
—
While Joe Biden keeps the floodgates open and is responsible for many of the 100,000+ overdoses that lead to death, the money Joe gets from these types of things pays for his high lifestyle.
https://justthenews.com/government/security/china-running-operation-addict-americans-illegal-drugs-former-dea-boss-warns?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
And I wish someone in the press would ask The Big Guy this question.
How do you feel about your son, who was pictured later the same day driving your Corvette, using your name to coerce a Chinese businessman?
Coercion is a crime, btw. Especially when it involves threatening to have a public servant use their status to enforce the threat.
Open or closed, it matters not to me. However open hearings tend to be farcical and not terribly substantive, given the format.
I would just like 3 questions asked and answered truthfully.
Who did Hunter and Z calll from Dubai, and what EXACTLY were the nature and details of the call?
What was the premise and details of the meeting between Hunter, Archer, Joe and Marc Holtzman at the Naval Observatory?
Did Hunter ever introduce Tony Bobulinski to Joe Biden and what was the nature of those meetings?
Our resident know-it-all, Dennis, refuses to provide the answers.
Of course, Lowell left his client the out that he would answer all “pertinent and relevant” questions.
Any of you lesser know-it-alls (fishwings, Zvelass, Bob, Wally) care to take a stab?
Rankin is a typical Democrat these days. Dishonest and no morals whatsoever. Clearly Professor Turley is a force for truth and integrity; that’s why so many paid and unpaid Democrat trolls now fill the comment sections with lies as well as unrelated tangents. They have succeeded in focusing my attention fully on Professor Turley’s comments, almost always skipping the comments altogether.
Ahh yes, morals. Do you mean upstanding people like trump who is the head of a company found criminally liable for fraud? He is also the man that said you can grab em by the pu–y. He is the man that a judge said is a rapist. Yes, morals are so one sided. Or how about the morals of dear Santos? Morals? yea, repos are full of moralists.
Who was frauded?
“Who was frauded?”
Bob was. He listened and moved into the home of the stupid.
“Raskin was appalled despite the fact that he and his Democratic colleagues insisted on the very same practice when they controlled the House.” (JT)
What kind of soul must you have to hold such an obvious contradiction? And worse — to hang it out in public for the world to see. What must it do to your conscience when your first thoughts in the morning are *not*: What is true? What is right? — but rather: How can I get away with this?
I’d be more worried about epic than Raskin. Epic owns all our medical records and DNA info. Can with their blue fleece jackets get made to order “heart Ttacks” Tim russet ring a bell? Who who who.
The quotation attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald is often misunderstood. Fitzgerald’s statement should be put in the proper context. Here’s the actual quotation:
“Before I go on with this short history let me make a general observation—the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. This philosophy fitted on to my early adult life, when I saw the improbable, the implausible, often the “impossible” come true.”
Fitzgerald did not mean to imply that holding contraditions is a sign of intelligence. That’s a stupid Leftist view of things. Lefts have one set of standards for themselves and then apply an entirely different set of standards for non-Leftists. That’s not a sign of intelligence, but of hypocrisy, double-standards, and stupidity–the complete opposite of what Fitgerald was writing about.
And, by the way, Walt Whitman was actually the first writer to encapsulate the thought. In his masterpiece, Song of Myself, Whitman wrote the following:
“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)”
But the meaning of Whitman’s lines are much deeper than they appear. Whitman’s expanded sense of self led him to identify and feel at one with the world, to sense that he was both himself and every person he met, that he, and everyone else, contains multitudes.
But to discuss Raskin in the same breath as F. Scott Fitzgerald subverts Fitzgerald’s intent.
Context is everything. A thing may appear to be one thing from one perspective and an entirely different thing from another perspective:
After years and years of this double standard I now truly despise the left. Everyone of them. Tell me you are a democrat and I will walk away hoping death visits you soon. But not a quick death. One that lasts a few weeks to give you time to dwell upon the fact that you were such a POS while you were here.
“…hoping death visits you soon.”. You sound like an adolescent in need of psychiatric attention. Careful with the public threats.
Jonathan: For those not paying attention there was an interesting development in the Fulton County, Georgia case this week. Ken Chesebro, who entered a plea deal with Fani Willis, is now on probation and subject to court restrictions– including the right to travel. He filed a request with Judge McAfee to travel to DC and Nevada “to meet with counsel”. McAfee granted the request on Monday. What is this about?
It’s unlikely Chesebro wants to tour the WH or take in the Smithsonian in DC. He is going to meet with Jack Smith in the case against DJT over the J.6 insurrection case. If Chesebro is a cooperating witness for Fani Willis you know he will be cooperating with Jack Smith. More bad news for DJT.
And why does Chesebro want to go to Nevada. To gamble in Las Vegas? Nope. The AG in Nevada is investigating DJT’s fake elector scheme and he wants to interview Chesebro. Other AGs in other states are doing the same. Chesebro is going to do a lot of traveling in the coming months. So if DJT thinks he is only facing 4 major criminal and civil cases he is mistaken. If an AG in one or more of the battleground states, where DJT pushed the fake elector scheme, decides to bring a criminal indictment DJT will be a named defendant. And Chesebro will testify against. It seems DJT is facing a “Gen. George Custer'” moment. They are coming at him from all sides.
DJT has always considered a master tactician when it comes to litigation–delay, delay, delay some more. And always try to control the players on the chess board. Keep your co-defendants close, pay their legal fees so they won’t flip. It has worked so far in the Mar-a-Lago docs case where Walt Nauta has so far refused to flip. Same with Rudy Giuliani. DJT has helped him raise money for his legal defense in the Fani Willis case. But DJT didn’t do the same for Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell who all flipped. So it turns out DJT is a lousy chess player!
They weren’t fake electors. They were contingent electors, who would be able to vote if the election results were reversed in those states. Democrats have used the same tactic.
edwardmahl: John Eastman used the term “contingent electors”. His idea was that if Mike Pence would stop the counting of the REAL electors the “contingent electors” would replace the the LEGAL ones chosen based on the popular vote for Joe Biden. That ILLEGAL scheme resulted in Eastman being one of DJT’s co-conspirators in the RICO criminal case in Fulton county, Georgia. The Q is whether you support Eastman’s ILLEGAL scheme?
Dennis, this is yet another masterpiece that deflects while at the same time advancing a well coordinated narrative. Whatever they pay you just isn’t enough!!!!!
I disagree, he is way overpaid. He’s not advancing anything except his own stupidity.
Hey Dennis, had any AR-15 discussions with your super-hunter neighbor lately?
By the way, who do Hunter and Z call from Dubai?
Democrats violent crime with no consequences, divide and conquer, and destabilizing societal institutions have provoked a contagion of anxiety, depression and hopelessness. These numbers rival those of the Great Depression circa 1941.
Democrats are killing lives from in utero to elderly euthanasia and in between.
U.S. Suicides Reached a Record High Last Year
America’s mental-health crisis drove suicides to a record-high number last year. Nearly 50,000 people in the U.S. lost their lives to suicide in 2022, according to a provisional tally from the National Center for Health Statistics. The agency said the final count would likely be higher. The suicide rate of 14.3 deaths per 100,000 people reached its highest level since 1941.
Wall Street Journal
https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/americans-suicide-highest-level-2022-02eb10ea
And yet, you are still here.
OT,
As crime surges, ‘Defund’ morphs to ‘Defend’ the police
“In a new survey shared with Secrets, the National Sheriffs’ Association found that 60% oppose defunding police operations, 44% “strongly.”
And the reason is simple: Crime is up.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/as-crime-surges-defund-morphs-to-defend-the-police
Another failed leftist, Biden policy.
Violent crime in Richmond YTD has surpassed violent crime from the prior year 12 months combined. Washington DC, which is just down the road from us, likewise. We used to travel regularly to DC but not anymore. I also used travel to Baltimore / John Hopkins regularly where violent crime is so out of control I am canceling my upcoming trip there. Zoom meeting will have to do.
Democrats did this.
Estovir,
Exactly!
It is only after their fail policies that they suddenly actually listen to their voters what is important to them.
The woke leftist DNC are idiots.
Just look at the reality of what the average American is dealing with vs the gaslighting of the Biden admin.
They are not buying the Biden admin BS.
Good for them.
It is only after their fail policies that they suddenly actually listen to their voters what is important to them.
Upstate, at best they listen. But then they project their failures onto Republicans as they institute new failed policies. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Estovir – Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, is blaming MAGA Republicans for crime in his city. https://nypost.com/2023/11/29/news/chicago-mayor-blames-predecessor-right-wing-extremism-for-city-woes/ This follows Canadian PM Justin Trudeau blaming MAGA-type forces for leading the Conservative Party to refuse to give his government a blank check to fund the war in Ukraine. The MAGA forces seem to be taking over the world, or some people are nuts.
I spoke with a gentleman yesterday who owns a fair bit of property in our democratic city. He is from Thailand and immigrated fifty years ago. He built several businesses over the decades and now the area is the war zone.
He has pleaded with the Police and with the city to do something about the homeless explosion, trash, crime, theft.
He said they told him that their hands are tied. That there are legal groups who will sue to city if they try cleaning it up. I am not sure if this is the ACLU. But this is a deliberate action to destroy the peace.
The man will donate all his land to the temple and is moving back to Thailand.
We citizens must wake up and push back against these evil thugs. This is out of control! It will not end well.
AR-15 rifles are selling like hotcakes for a reason. All demographics are triggered by the Commie Dims
The big difference here is that Congressman Raskin and Democrats didn’t make up lies about witnesses– like the increasingly desperate Republicans and their media allies have–to wit: claiming the existence of a “Biden Crime Family”– not only in the absence of evidence, but despite the fact that all evidence has gone against them. More of Turley’s purchased false equivalencies.
Good one LOL. Oh my god, you are serious.
🙄 yes David, she is serious. 🤣
$20M is made up?
More lies from Gigi…who’s surprised?
Monument Colorado where are you? I sorely miss your calm, rational comments.
I find it amazing that the Trump cult does not want different points of view, on a site that “claims” it believes in free speech. And of course they don’t want democracy either, just rule over others.
There is a difference between wanting different points of view and tolerating different points of view. That is the dividing line b/n Right and Left.
EdwardMahl,
Well said.
Raskin? It’s spelled Rasputin.
I find it amazing that you can find your way home at night.
There is no one on Planet Earth more Hate filled, Greedy, Hypocrite than a Democrats
But for some reason Republicans LOVE funding the CRIMES of Democrats!
Is this what you are talking about…
https://www.alternet.org/az-county-supervisors-indicted-election/
But they are republicans accused of election crimes.
If Hunter wanted a closed-door meeting, the Trump cult and Turley would be screaming Hunter is hiding something. Turns out it’s the republican cult that is hiding something, If republicans had anything they would be yelling at the top of their lungs DO IT IN THE OPEN live on TV. So who’s hiding?
“If….If…If…So who’s hiding?”
You apparently.
What are they hidng?
The republicans are hiding the fact they have nothing but hot air. If they had proof they would want it on live TV
The republicans are hiding the fact they have nothing but hot air.
Hmm, so they are “hiding” nothing. Got it.
What specifically is the proof you would need that would convince you that what the Republicans allege about the Biden family corruption is true?
Much of the evidence has been made public. The public agrees that Biden is a crook.
Open hearings are a joke and a farce. Have you ever watched one??? Red Herring.
How about you answer one question…
Who did Hunter and Z call from Dubai, for help with pressure that Z said he was getting from Shokin?
Who did they call? Huh? Who, nincompoop? Captain Kangaroo??
Jonathan: I think Jamie Raskin has it about right. Comer’s investigation is going to end in “epic humiliation”. And, yes, when Raskin was on the J 6 Committee investigation there were “closed-door” depositions of many witnesses. But they all testified at public hearings that confirmed their deposition testimony. But, unlike Comer, the J 6 Committee never selectively released their testimony. That shows the difference between the J 6 investigation and what Comer is doing. Do you really think Comer is going to hold public hearings where Devon Archer or Hunter Biden are allowed to testify and contradict Comer’s spurious claims? Hold your breath on that one.
The J 6 public hearings were not “tightly scripted”. The Committee did subpoena DJT to testify. He ignored the subpoena to give a deposition. That was toward the end of the Committee’s congressional mandate and trying to force DJT to testify would have required months of litigation because DJT would have fought the subpoena. Jim Jordan was another who ignored the J 6 subpoena–along with other GOP members of Congress who were part of the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 elections. It’s not as if the J6 Committee didn’t give them an opportunity to testify.
As to Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, he did sit for a deposition but he took the 5th Amendment numerous times. He was in jail and charged with seditious conspiracy when he offered to testify publicly. It was a publicity stunt by Rhodes. Anything he said before the J6 Committee would probably have further incriminated him. The J6 Committee was doing him a favor by rejecting his offer. In the end it didn’t matter. Rhodes was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Do you really think Rhodes could have offered anything relevant to the investigation?
But you bizarrely claim the rejection of Rhodes offer was a “careful orchestration of the public hearings”. It was nothing of the sort. Rhodes was not a “key witness”. The “key witnesses” were the 21 inside the DJT administration who testified about how DJT tried to orchestrate an insurrection to stay in power. Rhodes was a “bit player” at best!
AT this point JT is so biased he has become a joke. He used to have a lot to say about free speech. He has gone off the rails ever since DJT got in his brain. Or, JTs descent into trump world also coincides with this lucrative Fox News appearances. Perhaps the money is so good you get to close your ears to anything that might upset the gravy train of money from Fox News.
I think the main reason for not doing this in public is you eliminate each member having their 5 minutes to speak whatever. So after 5 minutes of a Republican asking questions, a Democrat can obfuscate or push a Democrat talking point, and it just becomes a show with nothing accomplished. A closed deposition eliminates that grandstanding.
I agree. The alternating 5 minutes is absurd. All committees should conduct inquiries with up to two consecutive hours of questioning by counsel for each side. If committee members want to do 5 minute alternating rounds after that they can. This would make for far more effective oversight.
#Benghazi
“It looks like Schiff is using the closed-door depositions as auditions to choose the best witnesses for his open hearings,” a GOP source familiar with the closed-door hearings told the Washington Examiner. “Somehow I doubt he’s going to arrange for the televised testimony of any of the witnesses whose depositions were problematic for the narrative he’s creating.”
The public hearings before the intelligence panel will also forbid participation from White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
(oops. I hit send accidentally. The complete excerpt is below (at 5:14)
“House Republicans fear Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff will cherry-pick witnesses from weeks of closed-door depositions and only allow public testimony from those with the most incriminating views of President Trump…Some of the closed-door witnesses provided testimony that would undercut the Democrats’ impeachment push….
“’It looks like Schiff is using the closed-door depositions as auditions to choose the best witnesses for his open hearings,” a GOP source familiar with the closed-door hearings told the Washington Examiner. “Somehow I doubt he’s going to arrange for the televised testimony of any of the witnesses whose depositions were problematic for the narrative he’s creating.”
“‘The public hearings before the intelligence panel will also forbid participation from White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
“’Chairman Schiff has completely corrupted this process by single-handedly choosing witnesses, blocking 75% of all Members of Congress from having access to the hearings and transcripts, and preventing GOP committee members from asking certain questions,’ Fine told the Washington Examiner. ”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/who-will-testify-in-public-schiff-auditioning-impeachment-witnesses-in-closed-hearings-gop-fears
Have you even noticed or wonder why FBI directum Wray was not called to testify at J6 gong show inquisition TV show?
. But they all testified at public hearings that confirmed their deposition testimony. But, unlike Comer, the J 6 Committee never selectively released their testimony.
DM , constant lies. He thinks we all weren’t paying attention in real time. The leaks comming out of Jan6 were textbook Dem narrative creation. As Truley accurately described, the public events were scripted. The witnesses READ from a script. How you might ask? Because the Committee was 100% selected by Pelosi. All the Republicans selected by McCarthy were refused a seat.
OT
“CHINA FLU 2.0”
Real President Donald J. Trump is running for president again in 2024.
It is now time for the global, communist, Deep Deep State “swamp” to begin pre-election operations to “stop him.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“What Is Mystery Virus Spreading Through China And How India Is Preparing?”
“India has issued a directive urging states to review their readiness and put their health infrastructure on alert. The new virus has already hit several schools in China. New Delhi:
“The sudden spike in respiratory illnesses across China has brought back memories of the early days of Covid, which had also emerged as a mysterious pneumonia. The new virus has already hit several schools in China, but the government claims that no unusual or novel pathogens have been detected yet.”
– New Delhi TV
Nobody has a closed door unless they have something to hide. As far as I’m concerned, in a country with our amendments, that is universal. Let us hear and see the worst and decide for ourselves. Joe Biden is absolutely a modern day Al Capone, I personally believe the former Obama administration is actually pulling the levers, they ‘tolerate’ the Biden family, and it all needs to be stopped right freaking now. We throw around words like ‘figurehead’, Joe actually is. Our modern dem party is a regime, let go of the fantasies of the 60s. The modern American left is the German 1930s left, and yes, that would be Hitler. Young people are too stupid/undereducated to ever hope to understand this, and so are a great many of their parents. We are not. Vote accordingly. We still outnumber them, but not for long; voting against this insanity en masse is probably our only option that doesn’t involve bullets. 😐 Do not let a global, aristocratic agenda and the children they have brainwashed dictate our future. It doesn’t have to go like that. If it does, we will all regret it for generations.