passed the investigative portion. claire, the white house is saying their defense at this point, and even mick mulvaney kind of, you know, really stepped in it, but he did it, too, get over it. this is what we do. what s wrong with it? is this a crime? it is a crime. it is a crime to shake down a foreign government for your political purposes, and this is a classic shakedown. as somebody who prosecuted shakedown, this is a pry na fascia case has more than been made. it is time to take it to the jury which is the senate, and shame on republican senators if they try to smear this man. this is a west point grad, a veteran, and the republican senators know it. so if they try to smear this guy, they really should have trouble sleeping at night. and you see they haven t attacked him at all in the content. it s all been from steve scalise and others. this is happening in the basement of the capitol as if
subtext to say no quid pro quo. i agree with david that it doesn t have to be quid pro quo. the president of the ukraine asked for antitank missiles because he has a problem, russian mercenary tanks. the president says, well, let me talk to you a minute about some other things, i m a great friend of the ukraine except we haven t really been paid back, let s get into this biden matter. it s a classic shakedown. that s going to be the argument. these senate republicans, should the democrats vote impeachment which is far more likely than not, are going to be pinned down to a yes/no answer. if they provide cover to donald trump for this, a clear violation of his role as president, we re going to lose colorado with cory gardner, we re going to lose maine with susan collins, we re going to lose arizona with mcsally and the democrats will put the senate very much in play. the cold hard toll picpolitics will get worse and worse for
could provide him with a little something. they would have to hand over 20% of the company. shares worth roughly $4 billion. he said they could hand that over, what do we call it, an administrative fee? they would have to hand that over through him. he would pass the money on to the president and vice president of indonesia. and that is how freeport could get their new contract with the government of indonesia. it s a classic shakedown, right? and it was caught on tape. and the tape went public in indonesia just a few weeks after donald trump inexplicably introduced this guy to the american press corps during the republican primary in the lobby of trump tower when he was making that announcement about the stupid pledge. and here we re all like, who s that guy? in indonesia, that s one of the most powerful politicians in that huge country. and he s caught red handed and it s on tape, and the tape goes public. huge scandal. the tapes were lurid. they were played over and over again in th
it s a classic shakedown, right? and it was caught on tape. and the tape went public in indonesia just a few weeks after donald trump inexplicably introduced this guy to the american press corps during the republican primary in the lobby of trump tower when he was making that announcement about the stupid pledge. and here we re all like, who s that guy? in indonesia, that s one of the most powerful politicians in that huge country. and he s caught red handed and it s on tape, and the tape goes public. huge scandal. the tapes were lurid. they were played over and over again in the indonesian media. by december of that year, by december 2015, three months after he had that weird meeting with trump that nobody understood, that guy, the speaker of the house in indonesia, forced to resign in the midst of this scandal. and then over the course of the ensuing year, things got even more wild than that. he was facing this ethics tribunal for this caught on tape corruption scandal. but then the
uh-oh, spaghetti-o s. no spaghetti-o s at my house. there is at mine! republican congressman joe barton causing quite the uproar yesterday, it was the most exciting part because the other guy wasn t saying anything. he accused the president of a $20 billion shakedown of b.p. vice president joe biden quickly responded calling the remarks outrageous. the texas congressman later apologized for his comments. the judge thinks that barton may have been right. how so, judge? well, the government doesn t have the we don t know what happened in the oval office. but you guys reported and the vice president did not deny that he walked in and basically said give us the $20 billion or we will take it from you. that s right. that s a classic shakedown. the threat to do something that you don t have the right to do. they weren t obligated by law to do it. correct. correct. and the fifth amendment, remember the constitution? joe biden took an oath to uphold it. said if the governme