MOST IMPEACHABLE MONTH EVER?

The current U.S. President has repeatedly bragged about or threatened actions that could be considered impeachable offenses.  Sexual assault of women.  Not paying taxes because that would be stupid.  Releasing classified information to Russian officials in the Oval Office.  Using official events and his own schedule to increase income at properties owned by his family corporation.  Even Nixon stayed with Bebe Rebozo for free–we didn’t have to pay for it.  He used his “non-profit” foundation to raise money for the good of himself and his corporate interests, not for charity.  There’s evidence he repeatedly lied about his financial status to get loans or avoid taxes but this matter may never get fully explored but remain tied up in court ad nauseum.  Can New York State finish its investigations soon enough to matter to the nation?

But August, 2019, should be the month that makes impeachment unavoidable.  He has done or proposes to do three things that should not be allowed to any president of this nation unless we want to see a dictatorship and even more corruption than we see now.

1. He instructed officials to pull money from FEMA to build some of his border wall that Mexico stubbornly refuses to pay for.  That is in direct contradiction of a budget passed by Congress and signed by him.  If these minions have to break the law, he said, he will pardon them!!   
2. The oath of president reads: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”  Yet forcing other nations to stay at his Doral Resort (which will weather Hurricane Dorian that is swerving northward) would surely violate the emoluments clause of that very constitution.  I supposed the loyal Trumpians could argue he has no ability to uphold the Constitution so the oath is moot, maybe even mute.
3. The President has tweeted out an image of an Iranian installation that likely is classified.  One of Dick Cheney’s henchmen went to prison for blowing the classified cover of a single CIA agent. Think of Snowden or Assange or several other leakers. This is far more important than the Valerie Plame affair as it likely gives away information about our classified information gathering techniques, beyond just showing a picture that was given to the President in a security briefing.                                                                                                                                                                                   Forget the myth of the smoking gun, just read the smoking tweets.                              Oh, and why don’t the Democrats file suit to overturn every confidentiality agreement signed by every member of the Trump Administration?  The courts have repeatedly ruled that public employees can only be silenced legally if they divulge or threaten to divulge classified information.

TODAY IS NATIONAL NDA-DAY

UPDATE AUGUST 19.  Now donors seem to be realizing that Trump & Co. use their political organizations like they did the Trump “Foundation” as a way to funnel outside money into covering for Donald and his operations.  Oops.  Omarosa has really done it now…she hit ’em in the bank account(s).

UPDATE, AUGUST 17.  The news media is now catching up to the crucial Omarosa-related story…not the n-word tape which will have no more meaning than the pussy-grabber tape…but instead the NDAs and their accompanying payments.  Click here for words from some lawyers saying this is clearly felony bribery.

And click here for good analysis of how Omarosa is so adept at this reality TV scandal she is revealing one audio escapade at a time…elsewhere I read in “NYTimes” she may have TWO HUNDRED recordings (not “tapes”)  This piece ends with a fine final graph: “Trump does poorly against women who don’t have much interest in pretending to be something they’re not. Using slightly different methods, Stormy Daniels and Omarosa have both shown themselves to be effectively immune to the Trump attack machine, which uses NDAs as the carrot and public vilification as the stick. They both seem to understand his thinking and predict his reactions better than his advisers do.”

And you can read here that one federal judge  thinks the White House NDA programme of the Trumpistas does not insure the end of the First Amendment for all NDA-signers.  This could mean they will have to start paying a lot more than $15K per month.  If you work for Trump Properties you may not get paid, but if sign an NDA and don’t work you can get a pretty nice salary…Just be sure to record all your on-the-job conversations. And turn to Hammacher Schlemmer for all kinds of fine, tiny digital recording devices.

April 14:  Non-disclosure agreements.  NDA. Notso democratic America.  The Trump Age has us by the throat. We are now being forced to watch and participate in a reality TV show that is 50% farce, 60% crime caper, and 99.2% tragedy.  A nation once so proud…so best swallow hard, take that pride with a heavy dose of cough syrup and perhaps some adulterated opioids. This is gonna be painful for the foreseeable future.

Originally NDAs were supposed to help private businesses protect trade secrets.  The Trumpistas and their ilk soon realized it could be used to hide lies, crimes, cheats, racism and swindles.  Does Putin use NDAs? One must ask.  Or does he simply turn to executions?  Is Omarosa protected by good security?  Has she left copies of her tapes with her lawyers?

So now we know that Spicer, and Hope Hicks, and Donald’s former security guard, and all the other former White House Trumpers, and maybe even Manafort, likely are all being paid to comply with their NDAs.  Paid $15K per month if the stories are to be believed.  If anything is to be believed these days. Presumably that doesn’t prevent the NDAers from testifying before federal grand juries and it certainly does not protect them from being indicted for crimes committed or conspired to.

Now apparently some of these NDAers are on the Republican National Committee or Trump Campaign Committee payroll, allegedly at $15K per month.  One newsman pointed out that’s more than a U.S. Senator makes, but if you know something Trump wants kept secret you could cut a deal, as U.S. Senator, not to spill the lentils, and get your own $15K per month. Yeah, what a lucrative swamp is Washington these days.

Don’t you wish you could peer inside the mind of the big Republican donors and see how they pretend they don’t mind paying for silence of folks who are helping Trump hide truths about Trumptopia? Is this why the Koch Bros. are keeping their money to themselves?  Is this why Ryan is exiting…so he can come back in some future role as Republican savior with his purported integrity intact.

Unless there is a Democratic majority in one or both houses of Congress next year we may not know the extent of the NDA use and the $15K/month pay-offs until there’s a Democratic President if the Russians ever allow that.  Or until some public interest group sues to get the documents.  Can campaign donations be used for hush money?  Really?  If so, let’s just appoint Putin CEO of America, Inc. and stop all these charades.

White House and Trump campaign using NDAs: https://www.thedailybeast.com/report-trump-tried-to-block-aides-tell-all-books-with-ndas

Trumpistas are trying to use Omarosa’s NDA signed during campaign against her now, claiming the NDA never expired, even though she was working for federal government after the campaign, which they claim has never ended.   https://www.thedailybeast.com/report-trump-campaign-files-arbitration-action-against-omarosa

Some legal observers say NDAs are not legal for government employees even though West Wing employees have signed them.  http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/401799-white-house-calls-it-common-for-government-employees-to-sign-ndas

NDA defense: everybody does it.  NDA reflection; “unconstitutional.”   https://abovethelaw.com/2018/08/kellyanne-says-white-house-staff-sign-ndas-lawyer-point-outs-thats-probably-unconstitutional/

An analysis of how previous presidents used NDA solely to protect classified info, not to protect their family from criticism. Click here.

None of this is new, of course, Omarosa has just cleverly brought it into the center of the reality tv show plot line, and the White House underlined it by suing her.  Here’s the ACLU statement on White House NDAs, dated last MARCH:

MARCH 18, 2018

NEW YORK — President Trump reportedly had senior White House staff members sign nondisclosure agreements at the start of his administration, according [to] The Washington Post.

Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, had this reaction:

“Public employees can’t be gagged by private agreements. These so-called NDAs are unconstitutional and unenforceable.”

Clearly Oliver North and Richard Nixon were just stupid for not using NDAs.