TODAY IN CONGRESS (TIC):
Your One Stop Shop For Learning What Our Congress Critters Are Up To!
Today’s Headlines:
Democrats to Poised to Thwart Mitch’s Attempt To Bring The GOP’s Weak Police Reform Bill (i.e., List of Police Suggestions) To The Floor TODAY!
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House Poised to Pass Their “Justice In Policing” Bill This Thursday!
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Barr Whistleblowers Will Testify in Front of House Judiciary Committee TODAY!
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DAY 39 Since the House Passed the HEROES Bill and Not A Peep From Mitch!
Here’s today’s schedule with the events I think may be the most interesting in bold. You can watch C-Span HERE. NOTE: Sometimes C-Span posts additional Congressional events not on my list, later in the day.
Today’s Events:
House —
12:00 pm — House Judiciary Hearing on Justice Department Oversight, Part 1 (The House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on Justice Department Oversight.)
2:00 pm — House Pro Forma Session
2:15 pm (or 9:00 pm) — House Judiciary Hearing on Justice Department Oversight, Part 2 (The House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on Justice Department Oversight.)
Senate —
10:00 am — Senate Session (The Senate will vote on whether to proceed to the Republicans' police reform bill, S. 3985, the Just and Unifying Solutions To Invigorate Communities Everywhere Act of 2020 or the JUSTICE Act. 60 votes needed to advance the bill.)
Tuesday Votes:
House — No votes
Senate — No significant votes.
Comments:
Today Topics/Events —
Police Reform Legislation — MoscowMitch is poised to move forward with his plan to hold a Cloture Vote on the Motion To Proceed in an effort to get the Senate Police “Reform” Bill to the floor today. Of course he will need at least 7 votes from Senate Democrats to reach the 60 vote threshold necessary for the Motion to pass. Besides the fact Democrats rightly claim this is a much, much weaker Bill than the House version, which contains far more “suggestions” for reform than mandates, the real fight Mitch has picked with Democrats is over the offering of Amendments to the Bill on the Senate floor. Mitch originally took a hard line saying he would “Fill The Amendment Tree”, a Senate procedure which would make it impossible for Senate Democrats to offer any Amendments. Than, according to Cory Booker, McConnell proposed allowing a limited number of amendments under the “Silent Filibuster” Rule, meaning that each amendment would need 60 votes to pass, giving the Senate GOP power to easily defeat any and all of the Democrat amendments. Democrats on the other hand want a “Simple Majority” (51 votes) for passing amendments since they feel or know that in some cases they have at least 4 GOP Senators willing to vote “yes” and pass some of the Democrat amendments. But at last report Mitch has rejected the Democrats amendment plan and will plow ahead with his partisan Cloture Vote today.
So, Chuck Schumer has just announced that Senate Democrats will Filibuster the GOP Motion To Proceed and deny Mitch the 60 votes he needs to bring it to the floor. From NPR:
Senate Democrats, emboldened by a national outcry for reform of the country's law enforcement departments, are poised to thwart Republicans efforts to take up a GOP-drafted police reform bill just hours before a critical vote on Wednesday.
But by Tuesday, Democrats were demanding bipartisan talks before green-lighting floor debate. The move rankled Republicans, who say they already addressed Democrats' demands to quickly move a bill addressing police brutality.
"If we're all watching the same pictures that we have all found disgusting, and unbelievable, why can't we agree to tackle the issues in a substantive way here on the floor of the world's greatest deliberative body?" Scott said in an impassioned plea on the Senate floor on Tuesday. "Because that's what we're supposed to do here: We debate the issues. I want the nation to see. I want the public to see. I want the world to see. I want all of America to see us debating this issue."
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., compared Democrats' approach on this legislation to their decision to refuse early attempts to compromise on a GOP coronavirus aid package. He told reporters that Republicans are miscalculating if they believe that Democrats will see political blowback if they refuse to amend the GOP bill on the Senate floor.
On Tuesday, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund urged the Senate to reject the bill — a move that boosted Democrats.
"The NAACP Legal Defense Fund? Thurgood Marshall's organization says vote against this?" Durbin told Capitol Hill pool reporters. "It's powerful."
While McConnell will surely try to label Democrats as responsible for killing police reform, I tend to agree with Durbin that that label won’t stick. With the Senate GOP refusing to negotiate a tougher Bill and House Democrats poised to pass their much tougher Bill on Thursday, I think the Bill Killing Label will get stuck on the GOP if Mitch does nothing after today’s vote. Based on the overwhelming public sentiment for REAL meaningful police reform, Mitch will find himself under tremendous pressure to either bring the House Bill to the Senate Floor or negotiate with Democrats to pit forth a tougher Senate Bill. We will see, but I think Schumer has made the right call today.
COVID-19 Legislation — Today is Day 39 since the House passed the HEROES Bill with still no response from #MoscowMitch or any Senate Republican. With cases ramping up in mainly Red States that mismanaged this crisis and the President continuing to bury his head in the sand hoping COVID will go away, millions of Americans are undergoing physical and/or economic harm from the virus. The GOP continues to fiddle as their own house burns.
Today’s C-Span TV Picks — Today’s picks are a “No Brainer”. Start with the Senate Cloture vote at 10:00 am. While Democrats will block the Bill as detailed above, it will be interesting to see if GOP Senators Mike Bruan and Mitt Romney will vote with Democrats to deny bringing the Bill to the floor since they both favor tougher legislation. I doubt it, but if they do it will be a severe blow to Mitch’s reign as Majority Leader. The other popcorn worthy event is the House Judiciary Committee Hearing with the two Barr Whistleblowers as detailed above. There is a bit of confusion on the times for this since one part of the C-Span site says Part 2 will start at 2:15 pm while another part says Part 2 will start at 9:00 pm? Anyway, just start watching Part 1 at Noon.
COMMITTEE ACTIVITY:
Introduction:
NOTE #s1 — 4: To keep this diary as short as possible while still providing a means for new readers to obtain a chronological history on each Committee Activity topic/event below, I have squirreled away the Background information on these topics in other previously posted diaries. So each topic’s Background section below will include links to my September 26, 2019 Diary for Background prior to November 22, my November 22, 2019, 2019 Diary for Background between November 22, 2019 and January 30, 2020, and my January 30, 2020 Diary for Background from January 30, 2020 until today. This and other regular TIC diaries will only include Recent Developments (stuff that happened the day before) and New Developments on each Committee topic/event. Also, I will discontinue posting Committee topics/events that have been inactive for weeks, but their histories will remain in the Background Diaries. If something new happens on these discontinued topics/events, I will bring them back from the dead and post it in the regular TIC.
Now on with the show. (New and Important stuff in bold)
Senate Judiciary Committee — Police Reform Legislation —
Background — See my June 8, 18 & 23 TICs.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Judiciary Committee Barr Subpoena for Mueller Grand Jury Materials —
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 11 , 19, 20 & June 5 TICs.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Judiciary Committee McGahn Subpoena —
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 5 TIC for details on the April 28 DC Circuit Court (virtual) Hearing in this case.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, awaiting Court Ruling.
House Judiciary & Intelligence Committee News —
NOTE #1: This used to be the “House Intelligence Committee’s Whistleblower Investigation”. Then it was titled the “House Intelligence, & Judiciary Committees’ Impeachment Investigation”. Then it was titled the “House & Senate Impeachment Proceedings.” But since Trump’s first impeachment is over, I have changed the heading again.
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 11 TIC, June 5, 8, 11 & 15 TICs.
House Judiciary Committee Barr Whistleblowers (New) —
Background — None.
Recent Developments — This week two former DoJ Prosecutors (formerly part of the Muellet Team) are anticipated to honor subpoenas and blow the whistle on Barr. According to the Independent:
One of next week’s witnesses, Aaron Zelinsky, is a federal prosecutor who withdrew from the DOJ’s case against Mr Stone after department officials stepped in to advocate for a less severe sentence for the former Trump confidante.
Mr Zelinsky will be joined on the witness panel on 24 June by former Deputy AG Donald Ayer and current DOJ employee John Elias, who is expected to tell lawmakers about “improperly motivated activity by the Antitrust Division,” according to Mr Nadler.
Mr Ayer will provide bigger picture context. He plans to “describe what is at stake when there is a breakdown of the department’s independence at the hands of its own leadership,” Mr Nadler said.
Mr Nadler, whose committee drafted and ratified impeachment articles against Mr Trump last year, has proposed legislation to slash the budget of Mr Barr’s personal office at the DOJ by $50m, he announced earlier this month.
Most recently, Mr Barr has been excoriated for ordering law enforcement to use violent means — rubber bullets, chemical gas agents, and flash bang grenades — to clear peaceful protesters who gathered at Lafayette Square just north of the White House to demonstrate against police brutality.
Shortly after the street clearance, Mr Barr, Mr Trump, and others walked to nearby St John’s Episcopal Church, where the president held up a Bible as photojournalists snapped pictures and TV crews captured video footage.
There is just so much Barr Injustice that has been committed it’s hard for Nadler to decide where to begin. I would note that the above article was published before Barr’s attempted (but FAILED) SDNY Friday Night Massacre, so I’m sure Nadler is trying to figure out a way to add this latest bit of Barr Injustice to the Committe’s investigations.
Also, Nadler appeared on last night’s Maddow Show and dropped a couple of bombshells. First he said arrangements are being made to get ousted SDNY Deputy AG Geoffrey Berman to testify before the Committee (apparently willingly) and to subpoena Barr. Here's the clip. It’s unknown whether Barr will step in to try to block Berman from testifying, however Nadler seemed to suggest that Berman wouldn’t allow himself to be blocked. But what is relatively certain, Barr won’t obey his subpoena. When asked by Rachel what the Committee would do to enforce its’ subpoena, a somewhat reluctant Nadler said the Committee is prepared to block DoJ funding, but did not go into specifics.
Beyond being somewhat tight-lipped regarding any details on the upcoming investigations, as can be expected under the circumstances, one thing I noticed about the Nadler interview was how unusually nervous Nadler was in talking about any of this. Which leads me to believe that we may be heading towards a true Constitutional Crisis over all of this. Which makes me strangely excited and worried at the same time. Stay Tuned!
New Developments — Today two former DoJ Prosecutors (formerly part of the Muellet Team) will honor subpoenas and blow the whistle on Barr. Based on advanced copies of the opening statements from these Whistleblowers, they will hit Barr with multiple allegations of judicial misconduct. According to this NPR Report:
Aaron Zelinsky, who has worked at the department since 2014, is scheduled to testify at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday as one of two "whistleblowers" set to describe politicization at the Justice Department, said Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D–N.Y.
In his written statement, Zelinsky said he heard that Stone received different treatment "because of his relationship to the president."
Zelinsky said the person in charge of the U.S. attorney's office at the time was "receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break."
And, he said: "I was also told that the acting U.S. Attorney was giving Stone such unprecedentedly favorable treatment because he was 'afraid of the President.' "
Zelinsky described "significant pressure ... to water down and in some cases outright distort the events that transpired in [Stone's] trial and the criminal conduct that gave rise to his conviction."
Eventually, higher-ups in the office overrode the original recommendation about how stiffly to punish Stone and filed a new memo "at odds with the record and contrary to Department of Justice policy."
Furthermore, as reported by Axios:
John Elias, one of two whistleblowers testifying in Wednesday's hearing about political interference at the Justice Department, says in prepared testimony that the since-abandoned probe into Ford, BMW, Honda and VW initiated on Aug. 22, 2019, did not follow the typical procedures.
- "Ordinarily, decisions of import — here, an investigation of a $630 billion automobile market — take time and care to evaluate, especially when the action would face defenses. Here, in its opening memorandum, staff acknowledged that it had not fully examined the public record," Elias states.
The details: His testimony says the initiating paperwork was generated by the division's policy staff and that enforcement staff "expressed concerns about the legal and factual basis for the investigation" once they received the matter.
- He adds that enforcement staff sought time to conduct their own analysis and "requested a delay in going overt with the investigation."
- But the investigation went ahead anyway, with Delrahim personally writing to the automakers to inform them that the DOJ was examining their arrangement with California, Elias said.
The big picture: Elias will also testify that at the direction of Attorney General Bill Barr, the antitrust division launched 10 full-scale reviews of merger activity taking place in the cannabis industry that did not meet "established criteria for antitrust investigations."
- "The rationale for doing so centered not on an antitrust analysis, but because [Barr] did not like the nature of their underlying business," Elias claims.
Besides these allegations, we have the Flynn case, the attempted Friday Night Massacre of the SDNY and an allegation that Barr ordered “trumped” up investigations of the legal marijuana industry because he dislikes pot. Hear is Elias’s Full Opening Statement. Here is Zelinsky’s Full Opening Statement.
House Judiciary & Intelligence Committee Flynn Subpoena —
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 19, 20, 27, June 3, 5, 8, 11, 15, 18 & 23 TICs.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — See Barr Whistleblower news above.
House Committees Subpoenas/Requests for Trump Banking/Financial Records & Taxes:
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 11 , 12 , 13 & 14 TICs.
NOTE: In previous TICs, there were 3 separate topic threads (1. Deutsche/Capital One Bank Subpoenas, 2. Mazars’ Subpoena, and 3. Trump Taxes) covering 5 different court cases. Since they are all dealing with the same general topic (Trump’s hidden financial history) and were starting to get intertwined in my brain, I have rolled them all under the single header above to hopefully make things less confusing.
Also, to further help keep things organized, below are the five (5) ongoing court cases dealing with Trump’s Banking/Financial Records and tax returns.
1. Trump vs. Deutsche Bank and Capital One — Case brought by Trump against the the two banks in an effort to block a subpoena from the House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees for the Trump Organization’s banking records, including tax returns.
2. Trump vs. Mazars (Congressional Case) — Congressional Mazar’s case brought by Trump against Mazars (the Trump Organization’s former Accounting Firm) in an effort to block a subpoena from the House Oversight and Reform Committee for the Trump Organization’s financial records, including tax returns.
3. Trump vs. Mazars (Criminal Case) — Case brought by Trump against against Mazars (the Trump Organization’s former Accounting Firm) in an effort to block a subpoena from the Manhattan DA for Trump’s tax returns. The DA has subpoenaed these takes returns in conjunction with his criminal investigation of Trump’s hush money pay off to Stormy Daniels.
4. Congress vs. the IRS & Treasury Department (Trump’s Federal Tax Returns) — This case is a lawsuit brought by the House Ways & Means Committee against the IRS and Treasury Department for their failure to turn over Trump’s tax returns upon the Committee’s request as required BY LAW.
5. Trump vs. NYS Tax Department (Trump’s State Tax Returns) — This case is a lawsuit brought by Trump to block NYS from turning over his State tax returns to Congress.
I will use these case #s below to help keep things organized.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None, awaiting SCOTUS rulings.
THAT’S IT FOR TODAY! Stay Healthy All!
