I actually went to bed early, very early, once I sensed what was about to unfold. I sort of had the opposite reaction as you, in that I felt like I needed to get that last full night’s sleep before it all went down. Like a guy in a holding cell on the eve of beginning a long prison sentence.

Ha. Shit. Fair enough.

For some reason, this reminded me of the Sopranos episode where Paulie and Christopher are stuck in a van, freezing, somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the snow. They find old mustard/ketchup packets and end up eating them just to stay alive.

On first look, this obviously sounds like a terrible idea that will likely result in his death (which it may). But are the Nine Trey Gangstas nationwide? I know Bloods in general claim to have sets across the nation, but Nine Treys specifically are primarily East Coast from what I’m reading. Theoretically, could he…

This cracked me up for some reason. I keep reading the dialogue in my head and chuckling. Nicely done.

Right. Gotcha. I was thinking about that as well (the more I read each day, the more try to figure this thing out).

Sorry, man. I meant “expected more” in the sense that the antics you describe are usually far more convincing, intricate, and constructed specifically to elicit a “gotcha!” moment to prove his insane alternate theories on how things went down.

Ha. I meant I expected more from him in the sense that I thought his utter pathological bullshit and spinning would be more effective, convincing. It was a lackluster performance for a guy who has made his bones off of defending Trump at every turn. The fact that his defense was so blase and he couldn’t drum up any…

Well said.

Fuckin’ red tape, man. Run-of-the-mill bureaucracy.

No problem. I’m still reading up on it.

Possibly? Maybe more that he was following what OLC (read: Barr) intervened and instructed him to do.

Holly, we’re usually on the same page. But here’s my take on it (feel free to shit on/dispute it).

Probably very little chance we ever get to hear these in full. I assume they disposed of them already, or altered them as well. Like when 18 minutes were missing from the Nixon tapes.

He is denying that he “withheld” it, per se, saying instead that because he didn’t believe the complaint to be a matter of “urgent concern,” (though the ICIG already deemed it as such) he didn’t have to submit it to Congress within the required 7-day period. He’s basically saying: I was going to get to Congress…

I’m watching Maguire’s testimony right now. Not a single republican has been able to do much with this. It’s real bad. And super obvious that Trump has reeeeeeally stepped in it this time.

Nunes really had nothing to offer. I expected a lot more from him, but the fact that he couldn’t do much to twist and distort this story underscores that he has very little to work with.

No, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m only saying Trump wanted/wants to damage Biden because he perceives Biden as his biggest threat. He was hedging his bets, operating under the assumption that Biden will win the nomination and he’ll be able to bury him during the debates.

This is crazy. The acting DNI (Joseph Maguire)—in violation of ICWPA policy—took the whistleblower’s complaint to the White House counsel’s office for permission to relay the complaint, the same office which had directed White House officials hiding records of the president’s calls which prompted the complaint in the…

I’m reading that approximately 12 people (possibly more) listened in on the call.