Breaking News: Lev Parnas, a key player in the Ukraine pressure campaign, said that President Trump was fully aware of efforts to find damaging information on his rivals https://t.co/JoLY1zMK4s
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 16, 2020
Lev Parnas's interview on @maddow tonight is damning. He's an associate of Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and implicated Trump in a criminal extortion scheme. How can any Senator argue that we don't need a real trial, with witnesses and documents? https://t.co/dG1KK1pUun
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) January 16, 2020
.@maddow says the big takeaway from the Parnas interview was that he implicated Pence. If Parnas claims check out, it actually complicates the trial: The senators should vote to remove Trump, so that a co-conspirator in his high crime becomes president?
— Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff) January 16, 2020
Parnas interview with @maddow not only revealed many new shocking facts but also underscored for me how many more pieces of this story that we still don’t know. Senators, call witnesses, obtain documents. #FactsMatter .
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) January 16, 2020
How do you assess Parnas’ credibility? To the extent he’s a defendant in a criminal case & says things prosecutors can use against him, that makes him seem trustworthy. But everything he says must be corroborated.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) January 16, 2020
👉Reminder:
Rudy was working for "free" for Trump.
But he WAS BEING PAID $500,000 by Lev Parnas, who failed to disclose a $1 million payment from ….
Dmytro Firtash, described in 2017 U.S. fed. court papers as an associate of RUSSIAN ORGANIZED CRIME. https://t.co/RkACqPK9js
— Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) January 16, 2020
If what Parnas is saying is true, and, while working for the president’s lawyer, he offered to help end Firtash’s extradition in exchange for Firtash’s help undermining Mueller, that should be a giant scandal in its own right
— Michelle Goldberg (@michelleinbklyn) January 16, 2020
Honestly if you believe even 50% of what Parnas told MSNBC tonight I don't even see how the Senate trial can go forward without a two-week continuance to depose Parnas and let Trump's attorneys cross-examine him
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 16, 2020
A few thoughts on part 1 of the Parnas interview.
– Parnas is almost certainly trying to launder his rep, get out of trouble, and thus not completely reliable, but this is too much to be made up of whole cloth.
– Of course everyone in the WH knew, because Trump *can't shut up*
/1— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 16, 2020
Parnas: “I met Nunes several times”.
Nunes & top aide “were involved in getting all this stuff on Biden”!Guess who’s having a real cow right now? pic.twitter.com/XhBuDDylMl
— Tris Resists (@TrisResists) January 16, 2020
This Parnas interview is incredibly damning.
But, then, it’s *all* been incredibly damning.
The problem here is not a lack of damning testimony, some of it from President Trump himself. It’s a lack of Republican senators who care about the country enough to do the right thing.
— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) January 16, 2020
Earlier: New warnings follow latest climate data
We just lived through the hottest decade on record. It shouldn’t take another one for us to accept this overwhelming truth:
Climate change is real. The worst is not inevitable. We can and we must act urgently to save this planet for our children.https://t.co/vypUSvkun4
— Michael Bennet (@SenatorBennet) January 15, 2020
”The World Economic Forum’s annual risks report found that, for the first time in its 15-year history, the environment filled the top five places in the list of concerns likely to have a major impact over the next decade” https://t.co/OGGztEToOW
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) January 15, 2020
The median American is about 38 years old. She has seen:
– 13 years that were, at the time, the hottest year on record.
– 27 years that were then among the 5 hottest on record.
– 35 years that were then among the 10 hottest on record.I wrote about it: https://t.co/ehJcROfQNF
— Robinson Meyer (@yayitsrob) January 15, 2020
An estimated 2,135 additional people could die every year in the United States as a result of climate change-related injuries like assaults, drownings and falls, if temperatures rise 2°C over current long-term average https://t.co/kxc2rTqZXq
— TIME (@TIME) January 15, 2020
There is widespread scientific consensus that an increase in temperatures contributed to Australia’s terrifying, devastating fire season. But, as recently as November, Prime Minister Scott Morrison threatened to outlaw climate activism. https://t.co/58gIBeYE81
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) January 15, 2020
It is infuriating the govt talking points are suddenly adaptation to climate change now a catastrophe is here when we have been warned and warned and warned https://t.co/Pz7DtJ3Yra
— Bridie Jabour (@bkjabour) January 15, 2020
***
WORLD
Breaking News: Russia's prime minister and his cabinet resigned as President Vladimir Putin proposed constitutional changes that could extend his hold on power https://t.co/Nosq6EOC26
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 15, 2020
BREAKING: Russian President Putin proposes a nationwide vote on sweeping constitutional changes that could allow him to extend his rule; PM Medvedev has submitted his resignation. https://t.co/rpE9f4cIMu
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 15, 2020
Russian state TV has no idea what's going on. After initially ignoring Medvedev's resignation, they are now reporting it–by replaying Putin & Medvedev's statement, with no further commentary. Then it's back to the rosy promises Putin made in his speech earlier pic.twitter.com/tItno2Do7I
— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) January 15, 2020
This lip service to the rule of law also gives free world leaders a feeble excuse not to treat Putin like the brutal dictator he is. To do pipeline business, launder his oligarchs' money, etc. It shows how much such approval & access matters to both sides.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) January 15, 2020
Putin and Assad caught on video mocking Donald Trump
Even murdering dictators stop for a good laugh from time to time. https://t.co/JMb5XNONwy
— Stephanie Kennedy (@WordswithSteph) January 15, 2020
Denial, whataboutism, and invention of false facts are 3 tactics of disinformation perfected by Putin and now used with increasing frequency in the United States. Enough is enough. My take: https://t.co/ObhRB06kal
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) January 15, 2020
***
TRUMPWORLD
Speaker Pelosi: "This is about the Constitution of the United States and it's important for the president to know, and Putin to know, that voters in America should decide who our president is, not Putin and Russia." pic.twitter.com/10epi07gQi
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 15, 2020
Pelosi has handled the optics of impeachment well, right up until that signing ceremony, which was awkward. Handing out pens should have been done in private. This was not some celebratory moment.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 15, 2020
President Trump says the U.S. will lift remaining tariffs on China after a 'Phase 2' deal. Beijing and Washington portrayed their 'Phase 1' agreement as a momentous step after months of start-stop talks punctuated by tit-for-tat tariffs https://t.co/9HAkGfHYJJ pic.twitter.com/Pkx4aEsPrr
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 15, 2020
Trump asked a JPMorgan executive at the signing of the U.S.-China trade deal to "say, ‘Thank you, Mr. President'" for the bank's profitable year https://t.co/sq38tW7qQP pic.twitter.com/LeNGjfFsFI
— Bloomberg (@business) January 15, 2020
Only 23% of Americans say they have a great deal of trust in what the Trump administration says on Iran, while another 22% say they trust the administration a fair amount. https://t.co/8ntLzUzoZ8
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) January 15, 2020
This is Mark. Mark spent years as the top lobbyist for a weapons manufacturer. Mark runs the Pentagon. Mark pushed Trump towards the targeted killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. The next day, his former employer's stock hit an all-time high. https://t.co/oHKoGRMbO2
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) January 15, 2020
So @realDonaldTrump wants foreign emoluments linked to Iran.
We need to get him out of office ASAP! https://t.co/SLV1SHN9HW— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) January 15, 2020
“It’s just so unfair that American companies aren’t allowed to pay bribes to get business overseas,” Trump says, according to the book’s authors. “We’re going to change that.”https://t.co/naSQDprxBw
— Raw Story (@RawStory) January 15, 2020
***
BREXITSHAMBLES BRITAIN
In an exclusive interview with the FT, Angela Merkel warns EU: ‘Brexit is a wake-up call’ https://t.co/KGhJU43AjN via @financialtimes
— Guy Chazan (@GuyChazan) January 15, 2020
#Ireland🇮🇪 and the rest of Europe🇪🇺have never been closer than today. Our mutual solidarity is here to stay. It will remain as strong as the walls of the Dublin Castle. Particularly as we enter a new phase in the #Brexit negotiations. pic.twitter.com/IWAN4T3Hyo
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) January 15, 2020
EXCL: Commons bosses torpedo Boris Johnson’s bid for Big Ben's Brexit bongs by refusing to accept any public cashhttps://t.co/FG4a77H4pi
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) January 15, 2020
I am not fussed about whether Big Ben bongs on Brexit day. Sure, £500,000 is a huge amount of money to waste on jingoism. But what I care about is the £130 billion and counting that leaving the EU has already cost. https://t.co/V5lSuA7Y61
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) January 14, 2020
Is it fuck
Thanks for asking https://t.co/HGHQ58V0rf
— CJohnston (@CJohnstonNI) January 15, 2020
I will be leaving Twitter when the UK leaves the EU. It’s been fun. Well, not fun. It’s been something. Between then & now an occasional thread of some things that I look back on with fondness, starting with a kind of beginner’s guide (send requests if you remember any tweets): https://t.co/I9k1T48V5H
— The Irish Border (@BorderIrish) January 15, 2020