Valinda Colyer

[Desirée Townsend @Cheering4Change]

It is now Day 36 of Senator Mitch McConnell’s hospitalization following a fall and a reported case of mild pneumonia, with no reported broken bones, concussion, heart attack, or stroke. So why is he still here?

No one seems to have a clear answer. What I do know is that Senate Republicans outside of leadership don’t appear to know what’s going on, Senate Democrats have remained silent, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear @AndyBeshearKY needs to come to Washington, D.C.

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Putin is losing badly on the battlefield so he has pivoted to increasing terrorist attacks against Ukrainian civilians in cities. But it will not work. As always, Putin is underestimating the resilience of the Ukrainian people.

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

Hunter Biden: “I believe the biggest problem in America is not the oligarchy, it’s the closetocracy. Everybody knows there is this closeted gay mafia, largely Republican, that exists in DC. The only reason that is relevant is I believe that internal conflict creates so much vitriol inside a person that they take it out on the rest of the world”

[Senator Patty Murray @PattyMurray]

Trump wants to destroy endangered species' habitats in WA and decimate their populations along with it.

Endangered species of salmon and other PNW animals are the heartbeat of our native cultures and coastal economies.

I will do everything I can to stop this dangerous rule.

[Rep. Frank Pallone @FrankPallone]

I was proud to sign on to this. ICE's violence has only gotten worse, and all Republicans want to do is give the agency more money. We need accountability NOW.

[Jamie Bonkiewicz @JamieBonkiewicz]

Any updates on this?

[Jon Favreau @jonfavs]

A real mystery!

[MeidasTouch @MeidasTouch]

🚨🚨BREAKING: CENTCOM has expanded the toll from this weekend’s Iranian attacks. Additional remains found in Jordan believed to be the missing service member (ID pending), plus a separate KIA in northern Iraq during an unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone — with a second troop wounded.

[Reggie B. @reggiebblue]

NPR: You were pardoned by your father...

Hunter Biden: Yes, thank God.

NPR: Did that open the door for President Trump to pardon some of his supporters including J6 gang?

Hunter Biden: That is an insane argument. Do I think that my father pardoning me opened the door for Donald Trump to pardon people that engaged in an insurrection, beat police officers, have gone back to commit crimes including sexually abusing children. I don't think the two are the same thing.

[HOUmanitarian ™ @HOUmanitarian]

@ReichlinMelnick Video shows clearly what ICE & the US Attorney allege did not happen.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

The guy currently in charge of the investigation into the ICE shooting in Houston is a far-right radical who’s called for denaturalizing citizens whose views he doesn’t like and for the mass deportation of legal immigrants.

There is very little hope of an unbiased investigation.

[Lev Parnas @levparnas]

Andrew and Tristan Tate spent the days before their arrest partying in Washington, D.C., as guests of Paolo Zampolli — Donald Trump’s U.S. Special Envoy for Global Partnerships and a longtime friend of Trump and Melania.

Zampolli is the former modeling executive who says he brought Melania to the United States and introduced her to Donald Trump. His name has also surfaced repeatedly in reporting surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s modeling-world connections.

And there’s more.

Zampolli previously acknowledged contacting a senior ICE official about Amanda Ungaro, the mother of his child, during a bitter custody dispute. She was later taken into immigration custody and deported, although Zampolli denies that he asked ICE to detain her.

Now we learn that the Tate brothers — facing rape and sex-trafficking charges in Britain — were being welcomed and entertained in Washington by a Trump administration envoy shortly before federal authorities arrested them in Miami.

That raises some very serious questions:

Who invited them?
Who did they meet with?
And why were they being embraced by someone so close to Trump’s inner circle?

Stay tuned. There is much more to come.

[Ed Lettis 🌻 @edbobgreen]

@BulwarkOnline @SarahLongwell25 @AWeissmann_

[The Bulwark @BulwarkOnline]

"It's actually a 'Russia, are you listening' moment where it's saying, 'hey guys, if you want to do this, our defenses are down.'"

@SarahLongwell25 reacts as @AWeissmann_ warns Trump may be tearing down election safeguards to invite interference and manufacture a crisis.

[Annie @AnnieForTruth]

I don’t ever want to hear anyone call Republicans the party of fiscal responsibility again. The Fart of the Deal guy bankrupted 6 businesses, including 2 casinos! As our country goes further into debt with him spending taxpayer money like a drunken sailor, he is making billions.

[𝓐𝓷𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓼𝓲𝓪 𝓜𝓸𝓻𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻 ★ @sistercc52]

@BulwarkOnline

[The Bulwark @BulwarkOnline]

Sen. Mark Warner: "The only election that Trump is concerned about is 2020. That was the election that his administration was in charge of. As a matter of fact, Mr. Ratcliffe was DNI then. He's CIA director now. If there were mistakes made, why is he CIA director?"

[Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) @adamscochran]

Documents like this were identified back as far as Trump's first presidency, and he had intelligence agencies suppress them.

They were extensively documented in DoJ reports, and in Jack Smith's report.

Fox News viewers were told it was all a hoax and simply voted for the man who committed crimes against America.

Trump then releases the documents, that extensively identify Russian interference, while shouting about China - and trusts that once again, his followers and Fox News viewers will simply never check the actual documents and will just repeat what they are told from pundits and speeches.

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

Richard Gere: “USAID was probably the most pure thing America did up to that moment. It was a giveaway program to needy people. He stopped that day one. It was insane. He wouldn’t even know what it stands for, USAID. He has idiots around him who have the same ignorance about it”

[Gene Trevino @GenoVeno73]

LET ME BREAK THIS DOWN for everybody, bcos we all know this whiny little bitch @SenRickScott isn't gonna tell you the truth.

During Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation - known as "Artic Frost" - a grand jury subpoena was issued for companies like AT&T, Verizon, etc., requesting phone "toll" or "metadata" records (dates/times of calls, who called whom, durations, possibly location-based routing info) of about 8 Republican Senators — but that subpoena did NOT include the actual content of those calls or texts.

Under United States v. Sells Engineering, Inc., (1983), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled:
"Although the present Rule 6(e) is a considered judgment by Congress about the competing needs for grand jury secrecy and for effective use of grand jury materials, it accepts the same principle: that the only use to be made of grand jury materials by 'ATTORNEYS FOR THE GOVERNMENT' is in connection with the criminal prosecution to which the materials pertain."
[Emphasis My Own]

In other words, the prosecutor (ie, Jack Smith) acts as the agent of the grand jury in criminal investigations. Jack Smith did not issue the subpoena under his personal authority, but as the legal representative of the grand jury, whose mandate is to investigate potential federal crimes in order to rule on an indictment.
[18 U.S.C. § 3332 states:
(a)It shall be the duty of each such grand jury impaneled within any judicial district to inquire into offenses against the criminal laws of the United States alleged to have been committed within that district.]

That is to say, the grand jury subpoena for these asshole phone records (and those of other Republicans) was formally signed by the Clerk of the Court and/or issued with a prosecutor's signature (Jack Smith), but its legal authority came from the grand jury under the direction of Jack Smith's team.
Under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 17(a):
"The clerk must issue a blank subpoena—signed and sealed—to the party requesting it, and that party must fill in the blanks before the subpoena is served."

Now, the issue of Article I, Section 6, Clause 1 - known as the Speech or Debate Clause - comes into question:
"For any Speech or Debate in either House, [Members of Congress] shall not be questioned in any other Place."

That Constitutional Article has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to mean that lawmakers are immune from being compelled to testify or provide evidence about their LEGISLATIVE ACTS. Those are key words.

I say legislative acts are key words bcos under United States v. Brewster (1972) — the Court distinguished between legislative acts (which are Constitutionally protected) and political or criminal conduct (which is not protected).

The Court made it clear, that a member of Congress can be prosecuted for actions or crimes, that are "not part of the legislative process."

Hence, at the direction of the grand jury, Special Counsel Jack Smith was able to subpoena Republican members records as part of a criminal investigation.

Jack Smith did NOT break, nor violate, any law. He did NOT act outside his scope as Special Counsel and bounds. He followed the law.

👇👇👇👇