The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump

[wease]

"How dare she call us deplorable!"

That was my reaction, too!

[wease]

People waiting to tune in until tomorrow sure missed a fascinating hearing this morning.

What's happened?

[McParadigm]

People waiting to tune in until tomorrow sure missed a fascinating hearing this morning.

What's happened?

Near-total stonewall, and a lot of rage. Even some Repubs getting frustrated with the refusal to answer straight Qs.

At one point, we had this exchange:

"I demand to know the legal basis for not answering these questions!"

"I'm not sure I have one."

Edit: the exact phrasing is below. The word "demand" was used at one point during this exchange, in heated fashion, so I must have misremembered the context for it.

[McParadigm]

A series of senators, Rubio included, pushed hard for direct answers: did Donald Trump ask you to affect or publicly dismiss the investigation?

Consistently, the response was that they didn't "feel" pressured to do anything wrong, which Rubio snapped was not the question.

Finally, the response from Rogers was that he didn't feel "comfortable" answering in a public hearing. The response: "Admiral, how you feel is irrelevant."

Really heated exchanges.

[McParadigm]

Here's be the exact version of one exchange described above:

[tragabigzanda]

Live stream:
http://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/coats-c ... p-hearings

[bune]

Doesn't support a living wage. Wow.

[McParadigm]

Wow.

Burr to Harris during heated questioning: "The senator will suspend!"

[McParadigm]

This is the kind of feisty this situation has long deserved.

[tragabigzanda]

This is the kind of feisty this situation has long deserved.

Agreed. They're off to a passionate start, so I don't see this taking a more cordial/political tone as it progresses.

[malice]

McP, i would appreciate your best guesses about how this is unwinding and what eventual outcomes will arise...
I mean, there's (as you noted before) so many things happening cocurrently right now, id like some educated opinions from you and anyone else with a basis of facts behind them related to how this tremendous amount of shit is going to finally rain down on the country, the administration, everyone.

Broad strokes is fine, im just in need of perspective from the better educated among us lowly slobs.

[Norah]

[Norah]

This must be how Davos felt when the Freys told him that Robb Stark was responsible for the red wedding.

[BurtReynolds]

Hysterical retweets from the RM brain trust aside, the only news here is that "All four intelligence leaders testifying in Senate say they are unaware of any attempt by White House to influence Russia investigation."

Result: nothing will become of this.

[Strat]

burt

[BurtReynolds]

burt

hate to be the bearer of bad news.

[wease]

Doesn't support a living wage. Wow.

Fuck you poor people. We want you to be poor and stay poor.

[bune]

It's like they don't understand that all these bootstraps people have to pay someone and that means a livable wage. GASP.

burt

hate to be the bearer of bad news.

I know you're right but come on, give us at least a couple hours before bringing the pain.

[McParadigm]

Hysterical retweets from the RM brain trust aside, the only news here is that "All four intelligence leaders testifying in Senate say they are unaware of any attempt by White House to influence Russia investigation."

Result: nothing will become of this.

That's not what was said, tho.

There was a carefully phrased message about not "feeling" pressured. When asked if the president actually had asked them to do anything, they refused to answer.

These are carefully phrased responses, and with reason.

[McParadigm]

McP, i would appreciate your best guesses about how this is unwinding and what eventual outcomes will arise...
I mean, there's (as you noted before) so many things happening cocurrently right now, id like some educated opinions from you and anyone else with a basis of facts behind them related to how this tremendous amount of shit is going to finally rain down on the country, the administration, everyone.

Broad strokes is fine, im just in need of perspective from the better educated among us lowly slobs.

I think a lot of what we saw this morning was down to conflict of intent. Senate Dems want credit for breakthrough revelations, but everybody knows where the real investigation is happening. No one is going to say anything in a hearing that will interfere with that.

Beyond that, the water's rising too fast to ever get a good look at the land.