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Trump has already won the impeachment battle: The top 8 reasons why

Patrick Philbin trump impeachment senate
© CSPANPatrick Philbin, member of Trump's defense team
President Donald Trump will not be removed from office following his impeachment by the House of Representatives and a trial in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly told colleagues they have the votes to finish things this week.

Whether the senators put the trial out of its misery this week or drag it on for months, the outcome is a foregone conclusion. Here are the eight big reasons why Trump won impeachment.

Video

SOTT Focus: Oliver Stone: What Reagan Said About the Soviet Union is True About Us - United States is 'the Evil Empire'

Stone/Correa
© RTFilm Director Oliver Stone • RT's Rafael Correa
Oliver Stone's films have won 12 Academy Awards including two for Best Director, as well as a bunch of Golden Globes and BAFTAs. His new focus is documentaries - on Venezuela, Ukraine, and Edward Snowden - all reflecting on the dubious activities of the US government both at home and abroad.

Oliver Stone, the award-winning American director and a relentless critic of US administrations, has called his country an "evil empire".

The term was coined by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 when he was referring to the Soviet Union and its arms race with the United States.
Things have changed a lot since then, at least for Stone. "Empires fall. Let's pray that this empire, these evil things... because we are the evil empire," he said in an interview to RT. "What Reagan said about Russia is true about us."
Stone - best known for his films Platoon and Wall Street - has long criticised US foreign policy, particularly its involvement in armed conflicts in the Middle East.

Dominoes

Chief Justice Roberts blocks Rand Paul's attempt to identify whistleblower

Sen. Rand Paul
© AFP via Getty ImagesSen. Rand Paul
Sen. Rand Paul on Thursday tried to ask a question that may identify the whistleblower whose complaint sparked President Trump's impeachment — but Chief Justice John Roberts refused to read it.

"The presiding officer declines to read the question as submitted," Roberts said after reading the Kentucky Republican's written query during Trump's impeachment trial.

It was the first time during the question-and-answer phase of the trial that Roberts declined to read a question.

Paul later read aloud his proposed question to reporters.

Star of David

Dutch court gifts Israeli war criminals with immunity

israel kills family immunity Gantz
© FacebookIsmail Ziada sued two Israeli generals for the deaths of six relatives during Israel’s 2014 attack on Gaza.
A court in the Netherlands has denied Ismail Ziada the chance to pursue justice for Israel's killing of his mother and other members of his family.

The Palestinian-Dutch citizen has been suing Benny Gantz, Israeli army chief at the time, and Amir Eshel, then air force chief, for the decision to bomb his family's home during Israel's assault on Gaza nearly six years ago.

The Dutch judges ruled that the two commanders enjoy immunity for their alleged crimes because they committed them while acting in an official capacity.

Comment:


Chess

'No blank check for war': House votes to curb Trump's ability to strike Iran, other targets

trump
The House voted Thursday to sharply limit President Donald Trump's ability to launch a military strike against Iran and to repeal the 2002 law that authorized the Iraq war, which has been used as justification for other U.S. military operations.

Democrats said the two votes were vital to reining in what they see as a reckless and impulsive president, pointing to his decision to authorize a U.S. drone strike that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 2.


Comment: The Dems had no problem with Obama dropping bomb after bomb on civilians during his administration though.


Trump has taken the U.S. "to the brink of war with an assassination of a foreign leader, without any imminent threat demonstrated, only double-talk," said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas. "It is time to put the brakes on his dangerous pursuits."

Republicans warned the two House bills would tie the president's hands at a perilous moment. And they applauded Trump's decision to target Soleimani, saying the Iranian leader was a terrorist with American blood on his hands.

NPC

Trump Derangement Syndrome spreads: Republicans are 'actual demons,' 'zombies,' says New York Times Nobel Prize-winning columnist

demon
© Pixabay / kalhh / chayka1270
New York Times columnist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman has doubled down on denouncing the Republican Party as "bad people," insisting that there's nothing wrong with "demonizing" opponents who "actually are demons."

Krugman refused to budge from his declaration that "Republicans are bad people" during an interview with PBS' Firing Line on Thursday. When interviewer Margaret Hoover pressed the Nobel Prize-winning economist on the risks inherent in "demonizing" political opponents, he only doubled down, taking his ad hominems into the mythical realm.

While Krugman stressed he was referring to "professional Republicans," and not "someone I might meet over lunch who declares herself a Republican [who] can perfectly well be a perfectly nice person," he stood firm in his attacks on a party he described as "irredeemable, devoid of principle or shame" in a Times opinion column last month.

Light Sabers

Videos show rockets flying over Israeli territory bordering Gaza, hours after IDF targets Hamas 'observation posts'

rocket fire
© Global Look Press / ZUMA Press / Mahmoud Issa
Footage has emerged showing Israeli missile defenses shooting down rockets allegedly launched from the direction of the Gaza Strip. One rocket out of the three reportedly managed to pierce the Iron Dome defense system.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported late Thursday that three rockets were launched towards Israeli territory from the area of the Gaza Strip, two of which were taken down by the Israeli air defenses. Videos posted on social media show several projectiles lightning up the night skies over the border communities of Nir Am, Ivim and Sderot near the Gaza border, followed by several loud bangs - resembling the sounds of explosions.

Dominoes

Hamas: 'All options legitimate' now for Palestinians to fight Trump's contentious peace plan

palestineprotest
© REUTERS / IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA
Donald Trump's peace plan, which was announced on Tuesday, led to a rare show of unity between the two key Palestinian factions: both Hamas and Fatah rejected the proposal, which envisages US recognition of the Palestinian state, albeit one with less autonomy and territory than they claim, as being biased heavily towards Israel.

A senior leader of Hamas, the Palestinian organisation governing the Gaza Strip, has urged Muslim and Arab leaders to reject Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan and said that all options are now on the table for Palestinians to react.

The head of the Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh has sent a letter to the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union Commission, according to Iran-based Press TV.

Light Sabers

Turkey 'will not hesitate to use military force' if attacks by Syrian govt forces don't stop in Idlib - Erdogan

turkish military
© REUTERS/Murad Sezer
Ankara will not sit idly by as the Syrian Army carries out an offensive in northeastern Idlib province, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned, saying all options, including the most extreme ones, are on the table.

"We will not watch the situation in Syria... We will not hesitate to do whatever it takes, including using military force," Erdogan said on Friday in Ankara. He claimed that attacks by the "Syrian regime" causes an influx of migrants into Turkey.
We will do what is necessary when someone is threatening our soil. We will have no choice but to resort to the same path again if the situation in Idlib is not returned to normal quickly.
On Tuesday, Syrian government forces entered a town south of Idlib city and had significant success in their fight against militants. Turkey warned that it would retaliate if any of its 12 observation posts around the city were caught in the crossfire.

Eye 1

DOJ relents, says it would accept probation for Michael Flynn as he moves to withdraw guilty plea

General Flynn
The Department of Justice backed down from seeking jail time Wednesday and made clear that prosecutors would accept mere probation in the case of former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn -- a shift that comes as Flynn moves to withdraw his guilty plea leveraging accusations of government misconduct.

Just weeks ago, the DOJ said it would seek up to six months of prison time for the retired Army lieutenant general who spent just 24 days at his post in the Trump administration. Represented by an aggressive new attorney, Flynn days later had moved to withdraw his guilty plea for making false statements to two FBI agents in 2017 -- statements that eventually wrapped him up in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"In truth, I never lied," Flynn wrote in a new supplemental motion to withdraw his guilty plea filed Wednesday. "My guilty plea has rankled me throughout this process, and while I allowed myself to succumb to the threats from the government to save my family, I believe I was grossly misled about what really happened."

Flynn also blamed his former lawyers for providing him with bad information that led him to plead guilty.

Comment: See also: Retired army war hero urges AG Barr to dismiss charges against Flynn