Jay Sekulow demolishes Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi on executive privilege: Remember Eric Holder?

“Mr. Schiff did say the courts don’t really have a role in this. Executive privilege? Why would that matter? It matters because it’s based in the Constitution of the United States,” Sekulow said. “The president’s opponents in their rush to impeach have refused to wait for judicial review.”

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for President Trump, criticizes lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff and calls on senators to approve the impeachment resolution that sets up the rules for the Senate trial https://t.co/gSRupclymD pic.twitter.com/O8Dq2PUQFq

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 21, 2020

PJM:

During his opening remarks in the Senate impeachment trial, President Donald Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow quoted Democrats’ own words against them. He condemned the House Democrats’ rush to impeach Trump, adding an article of impeachment for “Obstruction of Congress” rather than litigating a matter of executive privilege in court. He quoted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), each of whom defended Barack Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder when he was held in contempt of Congress in 2012.

“Mr. Schiff did say the courts don’t really have a role in this. Executive privilege? Why would that matter? It matters because it’s based in the Constitution of the United States,” Sekulow said. “The president’s opponents in their rush to impeach have refused to wait for judicial review.”

He quoted law professor Jonathan Turley, who warned, “I can’t emphasize this enough…if you impeach a president — if you make a high crime and misdemeanor of going to the courts, it is an abuse of power. It’s your abuse of power. You’re doing precisely what you’re criticizing the president for doing.” More

Jay Sekulow just tore Adam Schiff’s arm off and started beating him over the head with it. And this is just day one. The absolute pounding the Democrats are going to take in this charade is going to be magnificent. A solid, well deserved legal thrashing awaits them. Let’s get on with it!

Why there are no consequences for outright lying and filing of false charges against President Trump is almost unbelievable!

House Democrats block McCarthy measure supporting Iranian protesters.

House Democrats blocked a vote on a resolution introduced by House Minority Leader California Republican Kevin McCarthy that expressed support of anti-government protesters in Iran and condemned Iran’s role in the downing of a Ukrainian civilian aircraft last week.

What a disappointment —Democrats just blocked a vote on a resolution supporting the Iranian protestors.

This is not the time for partisan politics. This should be a time for the US Congress to speak with one voice to condemn an Iranian regime that kills its own people.

— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) January 14, 2020

Daily Caller:

Democrats in the House of Representatives blocked a vote Tuesday to support the protesters in Iran who are demonstrating against the regime.

Consideration and a vote on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s resolution was blocked because Democrats advanced the previous question, by a vote of 226-191. The resolution would have condemned the Government of Iran for killing 1,500 Iranian citizens who were protesting their government, as well as condemned the Government of Iran for shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing 176 people.

In addition, the resolution; “(3) condemns the Government of Iran for repeatedly lying to its people and to the world about its responsibility for the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752; (4) calls on the Government of Iran to— (A) refrain from the use of violence; and (B) protect the rights of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly; and (5) supports the protestors in Iran, their demands for accountability, and their desire for the Government of Iran to respect freedom and human rights.” More

Trump derangement syndrome has the Democrats and their MSM defending Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism.

So Democrats are choosing sides with the Terrorists‼️‼️

— Dawn 2 (@Dawn284923008) January 15, 2020

Just like Obama ignored the people of Iran to side with the Mullahs and to protect his nuke deal, the Democrats are once again on the wrong side of history protecting their own interests. Do you remember how decently the Iranian gov’t treated those protesters after they knew the Obama Administration wasn’t going to care?

Funny @HouseDemocrats can vote for a meaningless war powers resolution but can’t vote on a resolution to support those in IRan who want to enjoy the freedoms most of the world takes for granted

— S. Phillip (@SPJames1968) January 14, 2020

By Ivan E. Raiklin

This week, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, will submit her two Articles of Impeachment to the United States Senate.  Impeachment is an authority granted to the U.S. House in Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution.  “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”  (emphasis added)

Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 vests the power to impeach with the House of Representatives.  “The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.”  The House Judiciary Committee began its impeachment inquiry by interrogating Cory Lewandowski (I was sitting behind him), when that failed, Speaker Nancy Pelosi then moved the inquiry to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence where no due process was afforded the President in this closed door session, then back to the Judiciary Committee where the President was denied his 5^th Amendment Due Process rights by not allowing any witnesses to respond to the allegations.  Upon completion of these hearings, the House of Representatives voted on the following two impeachment articles, titled:

Article 1:  Abuse of Power (December 10, 2019)

Article 2: Obstruction of Congress (December 10, 2019)

For the U.S. House to transmit articles of impeachment to the U.S. Senate, the articles must meet the minimal Constitutional threshold of being a charge of “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”.  Based on the Supreme Court’s analysis below, neither article of impeachment charges the president with either treason, bribery, or a high crime and misdemeanor and thus cannot be transmitted to the U.S. Senate for a trial under Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 of the U.S. Constitution.

 

Article 1:  Abuse of Power:[i]

Treason–Nowhere is the term treason used or alleged in this article of impeachment.

Bribery-Nowhere is the term treason or bribery used or alleged in this article of impeachment.

or other high Crimes- The article lists no mention of a crime being committed as taken from either Title 18 U.S. Code or any other Title of the U.S. Code for that matter.  Additionally, reviewing Title 18 U.S. Code, nowhere is there a reference to the term “abuse of power”.  Without a crime of “abuse of power” there can be no basis for there to be a “high crime”.

and Misdemeanors–[ii] As mentioned above under high crime, without a crime, there can be no misdemeanor crime to charge the president with in order to impeach him.

 

Article 2:  Obstruction of Congress:

Treason–Nowhere is the term “treason” used or alleged in this article.

Bribery-Nowhere is the term treason or bribery used or alleged in this article.

or other high Crimes- The article lists no mention of a crime being committed as taken from either Title 18 U.S. Code or any other Title of the U.S. Code for that matter.  Additionally, reviewing Title 18 U.S. Code, nowhere is there a reference to the term “obstruction of Congress”.  Without a crime of “obstruction of Congress” there can be no basis for there to be a “high crime”.

The only felony in the US Code that references the term “obstruction” is found at: Title 18 USC § 1505. “Obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies, and committees”. [iii]  Even if the US House of Representatives is referencing this statute as the basis for its impeachment, this statute clashes with the president’s power of executive privilege.  The House will need to await the adjudication of the Federal Courts if Presidential executive privilege will outweigh the demand

and Misdemeanors-The only federal misdemeanors that reference the term obstruction do not reference obstruction of Congress.  Rather, they are:

1. 18 USC §1509 obstruction of court orders
2. 18 USC §1701 obstruction of mails generally
3. 40 USC §5109(b) obstruction of roads

 

Recommendation:  White House Counsel file a motion outlining Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s/the U.S. Congress’ violation of Article II Section 4 in the following manner:

1. To the U.S. Supreme court, under its original jurisdiction authority as this is a case “affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction.” Article III, Section 2.
2. To the US Supreme Court requesting a writ of certiorari on the matter
3. To the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, followed by appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and concluding with the U.S. Supreme Court. This is the preferred method as this process will take several weeks, if not months to adjudicate, while the U.S. Senate continues to confirm President Trump’s federal judge appointments without any breaks.

 

Possible Outcomes:

1. The U.S. Supreme Court dismisses the Articles of Impeachment and thus no Senate trial.
2. If the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the articles of impeachment do meet the constitutional threshold of a high Crime or misdemeanor, then the Speaker of the House can send them to the U.S. Senate and act on them as outlined in Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 wherein “The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.”
   1. The Senate dismisses the articles of impeachment upon receiving them for lack of an offense/sufficient evidence.
   2. The Senate calls witnesses[iv] to determine President Trump’s state of mind when he asked Ukraine President Zelinsky to investigate corruption. President Trump through the calling of these witnesses exposes the illegal coup by the previous administration, exposes all deep state actors, exposes corruption by the Bidens that he was interested in investigating and brings justice to all those negatively impacted by the illegal Crossfire Hurricane operation and FISA abuses to include LTG (R) Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Carter Page, George Papadopolous and Carter Page.

 

About the Author:  Ivan E. Raiklin is a Constitutional and National Security attorney and Green Beret who has served for over 22 years in various sensitive roles in the Department of Defense and U.S. Intelligence Community under the previous four administrations.

[i] https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/10/articles-of-impeachment-trump-abuse-obstruction-full-text-pdf-080185

[ii] https://www.vox.com/2019/12/10/21004695/articles-of-impeachment-full-text-read

[iii] https://www.vox.com/2019/12/10/21004695/articles-of-impeachment-full-text-read

[iv] The following witnesses will need to be called to address legitimate concerns of corruption

1. Ukraine Related
   1. Hunter Biden-Questions related to waivers to join US Naval reserve and Board seat on Burisma
   2. Hunter Biden’s baby mamas
   3. Joe Biden-Discussions of placing son on Board of Burisma and other dealings involving firing of prosecutor general in Ukraine (Quid Pro Quo)
2. Impeachment related
   1. Nancy Pelosi-all discussions and deliberations regarding the first time impeachment of president up until the actual impeachment
   2. Adam Schiff-all conversations with the whistleblower and his staff related to the whistleblower
   3. Eric Ciaramella-all communications between him and the rest of the witnesses and staffs listed
   4. Mark Zaid-Lawyer for Eric Ciaramella
   5. Andrew Bakaj-Lawyer for Eric Ciaramella
   6. John Brennan & Staff
   7. Sean Misko
   8. Al Green
   9. Rashida Tlaib
   10. Jerry Nadler
   11. Maxine Waters
   12. Michael Atkinson
   13. Debbie Mucarsey Powell (Drafted Articles of Impeachment?)
   14. Robert Paul (Husband of Powell, received $700 K from the Ukrainian Oligarch
   15. Every member of Congress who made public statements professing to impeach President Trump before the first impeachment hearing September, 2019.

• Origins of Coup Attempt
  1. White House
     1. Barrack Obama
     2. Susan Rice
  2. Intelligence Community
     1. James Clapper
     2. John Brennan
  3. DOJ
     1. Loretta Lynch
     2. Andrew Weissman
     3. Eric Holder
  4. FBI
     1. James Comey
     2. Rod Rosenstein
     3. Andrew McCabe
     4. Peter Strzok
     5. Lisa Page
     6. Joe Pientka
     7. Bruce Ohr
     8. Nellie Ohr (Wife of Bruce, at Fusion GPS)
  5. State Department
     1. Hillary Clinton
     2. John Kerry
     3. Victoria Nuland
     4. Alexandra Chalupa
  6. Fake Dossier Origins:
     1. Joseph Mifsud
     2. Glen Simpson
     3. Fusion GPS team
     4. Perkins Coie team
  7. Kathryn Rumler
  8. Devon Archer
  9. Christopher Steele
  10. DNC members working on Steele Dossier
  11. Crowd Strike
  12. Andriy Telizchenko
  13. Cody Shearer
  14. Bret Kimberlain
  15. Sid Blumenthal
  16. Derek Shearer
  17. Ian McKinnon

1. Press
   1. CNN
   2. MSNBC
   3. ABC
   4. CBS
   5. NBC
   6. NY Times
   7. Washington Times
   8. Facebook
   9. Twitter
   10. Alphabet (Youtube, Google)
2. Support Witnesses
   1. Rudy Giuliani
   2. Jim Jordan
   3. Matt Gaetz
   4. Devin Nunes
   5. IG Horowitz
   6. John Durham

The Iranian protesters refused to walk on the US and Israeli flags. The few people who did walk over the flags were booed by protesters in the area with chants of ‘shame on you.’ Some reports said that the protesters chanted ‘our enemy is in Iran, not America.’

Students in Tehran University take pains to avoid walking on the flags of U.S. & Israel—as the regime forces people to do—and when two Basiji regime agents then make a point of trampling the flags, the crowds shout "Besharaf!" #بی‌شرف — the regime is shameless, dishonorable. pic.twitter.com/BLr5QKztr8

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) January 12, 2020

Protestors in Iran are chanting:

We are not the enemy of the USA and Israel. Our enemy is the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

They are also refusing to walk on the American and Israeli flag that the government painted on the ground.

Amazing.

pic.twitter.com/DKjxpW2DGP

— Alex Bruesewitz (@alexbruesewitz) January 12, 2020

Breitbart:

A video clip highlighted on Sunday by U.N. Watch, a non-governmental organization based in Switzerland, showed students at Iran’s Tehran University refusing to trample on American and Israeli flags as directed by agents of the Basij, a paramilitary force controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

In the video, only a handful of Iranian regime agents were willing to walk on the flags. The students responded by heckling them as “dishonorable” and “shameless.”

Other video clips of the incident illustrated how much care the students took to avoid stepping on the flags.

President Donald Trump approvingly commented on the trend Monday morning, hailing it as a sign of “big progress” in Iran. More

Wow! The wonderful Iranian protesters refused to step on, or in any way denigrate, our Great American Flag. It was put on the street in order for them to trample it, and they walked around it instead. Big progress!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2020

Iranians in the streets chanted “our enemy is the regime, they lie and say it is the US”#NancyPelosiFakeNews #IranProtestspic.twitter.com/FUJroTngec

— BaHaRaN (@ForSyteSaga2013) January 13, 2020

This whole Iran incident has turned out to be a disaster for the Democrats. Nothing they hoped for materialized most of all war. This has the potential to have the significance of Reagan’s “tear down this wall” moment. Can you imagine an Iran freed from the rule of the Mullahs‽

A video of weekend protests in Iran shows a woman being carried away after being shot in the leg, while other protestors flee from tear gas.

Videos purportedly show blood on the ground after claims that protesters were hit with live rounds in Tehran just two days after President Donald Trump warned the Islamic Republic’s leaders not to “kill your protesters.”

Warning: Graphic videos:

‼️هشدار خون
ویدیوی دریافتی با شرح: "خیابون آزادی #تهران، تقاطع استاد معین یک لباس شخصی #تیراندازی کرد و یک خانم زخمی شد. خورد تو پاش"https://t.co/kofj1qa7cJ#دی۹۸ #IranProtests #Iran #Tehran pic.twitter.com/Ym1NUvKJOH

— Vahid Online (@Vahid) January 12, 2020

Breitbart:

Iran rejected the authenticity of a video circulating on Monday, and confirmed to be real by the Associated Press, of anti-regime protesters helping a woman bleeding profusely after reportedly being shot by Iranian police.

The woman was one of thousands to take the streets again after protesters erupted on Saturday in response to the Iranian regime admitting it had shot down a Ukrainian commercial airliner last week, killing 176 mostly Iranian, Ukrainian, and Canadian passengers. The Islamic regime had concluded in its preliminary report that the Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA) flight out of Tehran had crashed after its engine spontaneously caught fire, but ultimately admitted its military had shot the plane down with a Russian Tor missile after mounting international pressure.

Tehran has yet to admit that it lied about the fate of the airliner, instead insisting it had honestly reported its initial findings. Ample video and photographic evidence of Iranian officials bulldozing the crash site before international inspectors arrived contradict this claim.

The incident triggered protests attracting at least a thousand people, according to the state-run Fars News Agency, on Saturday. While Fars insisted the outcry was limited to Tehran and only numbered in the hundreds, independent reports said thousands, many of them students, took the streets in at least five other cities. The Kurdish outlet Rudaw described the crowds nationwide as numbering in the “tens of thousands.” More

Showing restraint to the Iranian police is not shooting more than a few people in public. Iran rejected the authenticity of the video even though it was confirmed to be authentic by the AP. Just like they rejected the idea that they shot down that Ukrainian airliner.

President Donald Trump issued a stern warning to Iran: ‘Do not kill your protesters… the USA is watching.’

“To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS,” The president tweeted. “Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching.”

To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS. Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2020

The government of Iran must allow human rights groups to monitor and report facts from the ground on the ongoing protests by the Iranian people. There can not be another massacre of peaceful protesters, nor an internet shutdown. The world is watching.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

Fox News:

President Trump issued a stark warning Sunday to Iran as leaders in Tehran gear up to deal with protesters who took to the streets after the government admitted to accidentally shooting down a Ukrainian passenger jet.

“To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS,” Trump tweeted. “Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching.”

He added: “Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!”

Numerous anti-government protests erupted at universities across Iran on Saturday with students calling for the resignation of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The protests come as Iran-U.S. tensions remain high, with Trump accusing Iran of planning attacks on four U.S. embassies, necesitating the drone strike last weekend that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

One protester at Amir Kabir University in Tehran held up a banner that read, “[Expletive] you & your mistake,” the New York Post reported. The banner also showed the names and photos of 16 students who died in the crash. More

The Iranian people want freedom from the bloodthirsty Theocracy that brutally oppresses them. Everyone deserves to live their lives free of oppression.

#Iranian protestors tear apart poster of Soleimani & Khamenei. Tehran, #Iran. pic.twitter.com/S0hzmRRfgG

— Alireza Nader (@AlirezaNader) January 11, 2020

Astonishing scenes as protests erupt in Tehran tonight. They chant that Iran’s leaders are the enemy, not the US. And, “Soleimani was a killer.” The fallout from his assassination continues to take unexpected turns https://t.co/diDuogtMVE

— Liz Sly (@LizSly) January 11, 2020

Will media rush to report on the large #IranProtests where protestors are demanding the Supreme Leader step down? Or does that defy the narrative they want? Some chants wish death on him and others say “Our enemy is right here, they lie & say its America.” pic.twitter.com/TpeQAEOK5J

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) January 11, 2020

A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 passengers and crew crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran’s airport this morning, killing everyone on board and turning farmland on the outskirts of the capital into fields of flaming debris.

Iran is refusing to hand over the black box of the doomed Ukrainian airliner to Boeing amid an investigation into what caused the crash that killed all 176 people aboard the flight out of Tehran early Wednesday.

So Iran probably shot down the plane by mistake.https://t.co/6Gimp3bq8G

— BrokenNews_Bernie (@BrokennewsB) January 8, 2020

Fox News:

Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Tehran’s civil aviation organization, told Mehr news agency in Tehran that Iran has not made a decision on which country or international authority it would send the black box to for its data to be analyzed, Reuters reported.

Boeing is an American aerospace company headquartered out of Chicago. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial jet transports. Boeing also designs, manufactures and sells military aircraft, helicopters, space vehicles, missiles and communication equipment worldwide.

The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines flight came hours after Iran fired as many as 15 ballistic missiles on Iraqi bases housing U.S. soldiers in a major retaliation by the rogue regime after the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week.

No Americans were aboard the flight. Three Britons, three Germans, 63 Canadians, 10 Swedes, 11 Ukrainians, 82 Iranians and four Afghans died in the crash, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry Vadym Prystaiko said. More

It looks like the perfect recipe for a mistake. Iran launches missiles, defense forces on alert, low flying airplane, nervous Iranian, heat-seeking missile, hot engine exhaust, the engine catches fire, pilot losses control, plane crashes, Iran not going to return black box, nothing to see here folks.

Of course, the Iranians do not want to hand over the black box, it would be the concrete evidence that Iran was behind the downing of the airliner.

Does anyone believe they will turn over the black box to anyone?