Forgotten? Why MSNBC’s Democratic debate made no news

Fair and Square :-)

 

After a nearly 11-hour hearing on impeaching President Trump, MSNBC and the Washington Post hosted a Democratic debate where the leadoff topic was…impeaching President Trump.
Rachel Maddow, the network’s top liberal voice and lead moderator, kicked off the Atlanta debate Wednesday by noting that Elizabeth Warren is ready to convict the president: “Will you try to convince your Republican colleagues in the Senate to vote the same way? And if so, how?”
Then she asked Amy Klobuchar about having said she’d wait for the evidence: “After the bombshell testimony of Ambassador Sondland today, has that view changed for you?”
Next, Maddow asked Bernie Sanders: “How central should the president's conduct uncovered by this impeachment inquiry be to any Democratic nominee's campaign for president? How central would it be to yours?” And she put the same question to Pete Buttigieg.
And that’s pretty much how the evening went. No wonder the New York Times called it “the debate that wasn’t.”
There were few sparks. Most of the questions were polite, a chance for the 10 contenders to deliver their stump speeches. They said they were for daycare and voting rights and against climate change.
Maybe that’s why it was the lowest-rated debate of the season, seen by 6.5 million viewers—down from 8.5 million for the CNN debate last month.
The two reporters on the panel, MSNBC’s Kristen Welker and the Post’s Ashley Parker, asked some more aggressive questions. But the candidates, with little prodding, also showed little desire to mix it up. What passed for drama was Cory Booker professing shock that Joe Biden wouldn’t support legalizing marijuana. And all the pundit predictions about how Buttigieg would get beat up now that he’s the front-runner in Iowa proved to be wrong.
Andrea Mitchell did note that Mayor Pete won an election in South Bend with 11,000 votes, asking: “Why should Democrats take the risk of betting on you?”
“Because I have the right experience to take on Donald Trump,” he said. That was as rough as it got.
It was all very high road. Warren wasn’t really pressed on her latest explanation for her $20-trillion Medicare for All plan. No one really “won.”
Afterward, things seemed rather clubby. Chris Matthews told Booker during an interview that he did “great” and was inspiring.
And Maddow told Brian Williams: “I felt sitting here like, you know, these 10 candidates are getting a chance to put their best foot forward and make their best cases.” Is that a network’s goal in hosting a presidential debate?
But even if the debate had produced conflict or fireworks, it would have been largely forgotten 10 hours later, when the impeachment hearings resumed. The anchor of MSNBC’s coverage Thursday: Anti-Trump host Nicolle Wallace, who has led or co-anchored every day of the hearings. Matthews anchored one day last week.
Wallace called Fiona Hill’s appearance “some of the most searing testimony” and said it “packed a wallop.” A day earlier, she declared: “I think Gordon Sondland’s testimony changed everything.”
If MSNBC has had a token conservative guest during these hearings, I’ve missed it. And as I keep pointing out, the impeachment coverage on CNN and Fox has consistently been anchored by journalists.
But the Democratic debate was always destined to be overshadowed. Impeachment is consuming all the media oxygen. The debate was barely mentioned all day Wednesday on MSNBC itself until a half hour before it began. And it’s already becoming a footnote.
Obama White House aide David Axelrod tweeted during the Atlanta event, “It may just be me, but maybe the impeachment hearings have left me sapped for this debate. Kind of low energy.”
It wasn’t just you, David.

Chris Stewart says House impeachment push 'good news' because Senate trial will reveal truth

U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart said Thursday it would be “good news” if the Democrat-led House votes for President Trump's impeachment because a trial in the Republican-led Senate would set the truth free.
The Utah Republican addressed his colleagues on the House Intelligence Committee as the second week of public impeachment hearings came to a close.
“Everyone knows what they're going to do next,” Stewart said of the panel's Democrats. “They're going to impeach the president. They're going to send it on to the Senate. But that is the good news. That's good news.
“The leadership of this committee has been unfair and dishonest,” Stewart continued, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. “I know we hear these crocodile tears from some of my colleagues who are heartbroken because they finally have to impeach this president. And we know that's absurd. They're not heartbroken. There's no prayerful tears over this. They're giddy over this. And there's not a person in the country who doesn't know that.”

“The leadership of this committee has been unfair and dishonest. They're giddy over this [impeachment inquiry]. And there's not a person in the country who doesn't know that.”
— U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah

The next step in the impeachment process involves the House Intelligence Committee sending a report to the House Judiciary Committee, which will then decide whether to file articles of impeachment against Trump. If the likely outcome occurs, the Senate is expected to hold a two-week-long trial that could begin as early as January, The Washington Post reported.
“These proceedings have been anything but fair. The Senate has an opportunity to fix that,” Stewart said, according to Deseret News of Salt Lake City. “I am confident they will. And I look forward to them completing the job that we could have done here.”
Stewart drew national attention last week when questioning former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who testified that she could supply the panel with no information regarding criminal activity or bribes that Trump may have been involved with. The White House praised Stewart on Twitter, saying it took Stewart just “30 seconds” to get the answer House Democrats spent seven hours trying to avoid.
According to Stewart, Democrats produced no evidence of bribery or extortion, and elicited from witnesses no “firsthand” knowledge of a quid pro quo agreement when Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for an investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings in the country, The Tribune reported. A transcript of the July 25 phone call between the two leaders showed Trump also asked for information about the hacking of the DNC server in 2016 – an issue that came up in Thursday’s hearing.
Also Thursday, Trump had lunch with two of his most vocal GOP critics in the Senate -- another Utah Republican, Sen. Mitt Romney, and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine – as the likelihood of an impeachment trial rises, Politico reported. The president has met with about 40 Republican senators this fall in an effort to communicate his account of the July 25 call that first prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to kick off an informal impeachment process in September.
Meanwhile, the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday heard testimony from two witnesses -- former National Security Council aide Fiona Hill and U.S. State Department official David Holmes.
Holmes, who described how he overheard a phone call this summer with Trump about wanting Ukraine to conduct political investigations, testified he eventually understood that “demand” to be linked to delayed military aid. Hill clashed with Republicans after accusing some lawmakers of embracing the “fictional narrative” that only Ukraine -- and not Russia -- interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Fox News’ Alex Pappas contributed to this report.

Horowitz reportedly finds FBI lawyer falsified FISA doc; WaPo stealth-deletes Strzok connection

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has found evidence that an FBI lawyer manipulated a key investigative document related to the FBI's secretive surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser -- enough to change the substantive meaning of the document, according to multiple reports.
The show-stopping development comes as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News that Horowitz's comprehensive report on allegations of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant abuse against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page will be released on Dec. 9. "That's locked," Graham said.
The new evidence concerning the altered document, which was related to the FBI's FISA court warrant application to surveil Page, is expected to be outlined in Horowitz's upcoming report. CNN first reported the news, which was largely confirmed by The Washington Post.
The Post, hours after publishing its story, conspicuously removed the portion of its reporting that the FBI employee involved was underneath Peter Strzok, the FBI's since-fired head of counterintelligence. The Post did not offer an explanation for the change, which occurred shortly after midnight. Earlier this week, the DOJ highlighted a slew of anti-Trump text messages sent by Strzok when he was leading the Hillary Clinton email investigation and the probe into the Trump campaign.
Horowitz reportedly found that the FBI employee who modified the FISA document falsely stated that he had "documentation to back up a claim he had made in discussions with the Justice Department about the factual basis" for the FISA warrant application, the Post reported. Then, the FBI employee allegedly "altered an email" to substantiate his inaccurate version of events. The employee has since been forced out of the bureau.
Sources told Fox News last month that U.S. Attorney John Durham's separate, ongoing probe into potential FBI and Justice Department misconduct in the run-up to the 2016 election through the spring of 2017 has transitioned into a full-fledged criminal investigation -- and that Horowitz's report will shed light on why Durham's probe has become a criminal inquiry.
Durham has reportedly taken up Horowitz's findings concerning the falsified FISA document, meaning the ex-FBI lawyer who made the changes is now under criminal investigation. The Post indicated, however, that the document was not central to the legality of the FISA warrant obtained against Page.

One-time advisor of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump Carter Page addresses the audience during a presentation in Moscow, Russia, December 12, 2016. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin - RC165B503FF0

Republicans have long argued that the FBI's alleged FISA abuses, which came as the bureau aggressively pursued ultimately unsubstantiated claims of criminal links between the Trump team and Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign, were politically motivated. In recent months, a slew of unearthed documents have strengthened those claims.
Just nine days before the FBI applied for its FISA warrant to surveil Page, bureau officials were battling with a senior Justice Department official who had "continued concerns" about the "possible bias" of a source pivotal to the application, according to internal text messages previously obtained by Fox News.
The 2016 messages, sent between Lisa Page and then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, also revealed that bureau brass circulated at least two anti-Trump blog articles, including a Lawfare blog post sent shortly after Election Day that called Trump possibly "among the major threats to the security of the country."
Fox News is told the texts were connected to the ultimately successful Page application, which relied in part on information from British ex-spy Christopher Steele – whose anti-Trump views are now well-documented – and cited Page’s suspected Russia ties. In its warrant application, the FBI inaccurately assured the FISA court on numerous occasions that media sources independently corroborated Steele's claims, and did not clearly state that Steele worked for a firm hired by Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

FILE - In this July 10, 2018, file photo, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn leaves the federal courthouse in Washington, following a status hearing. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Page has not been charged with any wrongdoing despite more than a year of federal surveillance, and he has since sued numerous actors -- including the DNC -- for defamation related to claims that he worked with Russia.
"OI [Office of Intelligence] now has a robust explanation re any possible bias of the chs [confidential human source] in the package," Lisa Page wrote to McCabe on Oct. 12, 2016. "Don't know what the holdup is now, other than Stu's continued concerns."
It's unclear whether the confidential source in question was Steele or another individual. "Stu" was an apparent reference to Stuart Evans, then the DOJ's National Security Division deputy assistant attorney general. In one previously unearthed and since-unredacted text message, Strzok texted Page that he was "Currently fighting with Stu for this FISA" in late 2016.
Page is not the only Trump official to allege misconduct by the FBI. Last month, an explosive court filing from Michael Flynn’s legal team alleged that FBI agents manipulated official records of the former national security adviser’s 2017 interview that led to him being charged with lying to investigators. Flynn's attorneys demanded the FBI search its internal "Sentinel" system to find more evidence of allegedly doctored files.
Newly released text messages involving text messages between Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page revealed that Page -- who was not present for the Flynn interview -- had apparently made "edits" to the so-called "302" witness report in the case, which was key to Flynn's prosecution on a false statements charge. Page told Strzok on February 10, 2017 that she “gave my edits to Bill to put on your desk.”
Horowitz told congressional lawmakers in an October letter that his investigation and ensuing report were nearing their conclusion.
The "lengthy" draft report "concerns sensitive national security and law enforcement matters," Horowitz wrote in the letter, adding that he anticipated "the final report will be released publicly with few redactions."
Horowitz noted that he did not anticipate a need to prepare or issue "separate classified and public versions of the report."
"After we receive the final classification markings from the Department and the FBI, we will then proceed with our usual process for preparing a final report, including ensuring that appropriate reviews occur for accuracy and comment purposes," Horowitz wrote in the letter. "Once begun, we do not anticipate the time for that review to be lengthy."
Fox News' Brooke Singman and Charles Crietz contributed to this report.

Gordon Sondland Cartoons

Ann Coulter event at UC Berkeley draws masked protesters; multiple arrests reported

An appearance by conservative writer Ann Coulter at the University of California at Berkeley drew a crowd of protesters Wednesday night, in the latest episode of "cancel culture" on the nation's college campuses.
"Multiple" mask-wearing protesters were arrested, campus police confirmed on Twitter.
Covering faces is a violation of campus protest policy, the Bay Area's FOX 2 reported. The station said as many as seven people were arrested.
Video posted online showed Coulter being quickly escorted past protesters into the building where the event, titled, “Adios, America,” was held. It was hosted by the Berkeley campus' College Republicans.
Coulter started speaking about 15 minutes late because attendees had trouble getting through a “human chain” of protesters who tried to block ticketholders from getting inside the building.
“They can protest all they want and shout their slogans – free speech – I’m cool with that, but I am not cool with having somebody block our way getting in,” said Derrick Main, a Marin County Republican Central Committee member. He told FOX 2 he paid $45 for his ticket.

“They can protest all they want and shout their slogans ... but I am not cool with having somebody block our way getting in.”
— Derrick Main, speech attendee

Conservative writer Andy Ngo posted video that appeared to show a woman having her ticket stolen.
Some of the protesters said they were there to promote left-wing causes.
“We’re here to show our support for DACA and also to protest white supremacy,” Hamid Hakimi, a student protester, told Berkeleyside.
Some protesters said they wanted to see the event shut down, but others agreed Coulter had a right to speak.
“I think it’s important that we hear people like her speak to know that this is real,” a student named Aurora told FOX 2.

Ann Coulter appears on "The View" in 2017. (Getty Images) 

“What we’re doing by protesting is showing that her specific speech is not welcome here,” student Gianluca Pedrani told the station.

“What we’re doing by protesting is showing that her specific speech is not welcome here.”
— Gianluca Pedrani, student

There were two protesters inside the event, but only one was removed because the other agreed to be silent, FOX 2 reported.
The Berkeley campus is frequently the center for free speech debates. in September 2017 a scheduled four-day event dubbed Free Speech Week was canceled over safety concerns. Protesters had sought to silence a featured speaker, provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.
Earlier that year, Coulter canceled an event on the campus, also over safety concerns. She called the situation "a dark day for free speech in America."
“¡Adios, America!: The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country Into a Third World Hellhole,” is a book written by Coulter in 2015.

Graham: DOJ watchdog's FISA report will be released Dec. 9

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News Wednesday that Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report on allegations of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant abuse during the 2016 election will be released on Dec. 9.
During an appearance on "Hannity" Wednesday, host Sean Hannity noted Horowitz will be coming before Graham's committee on Dec. 11 to testify on the matter and went on to ask Graham not to allow a Friday night document "dump" that could muffle the coverage of the news.
In response, Graham smiled and nodded.
"It'll be December 9th -- you'll get the report," the South Carolina lawmaker said.
"That's locked."
Horowitz told congressional lawmakers in an October letter that his investigation and ensuing report were nearing their conclusion.
The "lengthy" draft report "concerns sensitive national security and law enforcement matters," Horowitz wrote in the letter, adding that he anticipated "the final report will be released publicly with few redactions."
Horowitz noted that he did not anticipate a need to prepare or issue "separate classified and public versions of the report."
"After we receive the final classification markings from the Department and the FBI, we will then proceed with our usual process for preparing a final report, including ensuring that appropriate reviews occur for accuracy and comment purposes," Horowitz wrote in the letter. "Once begun, we do not anticipate the time for that review to be lengthy."
Graham further broke news on "Hannity" when he confirmed he is sending a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting the transcripts of three phone calls the senator said then-Vice President Joe Biden had with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Graham said the phone calls coincided with the timeframe in which a Ukrainian prosecutor, once praised for going after the head of natural gas company Burisma Holdings -- a person Graham said was known as the "dirtiest guy in Ukraine" by one top American official -- was fired.
Burisma was the company on which Hunter Biden, the son of the 2020 Democratic candidate, sat on the board.
"I want to know are there any transcripts or readouts of the phone calls between the vice president and the president of Ukraine in February [2016] after the raid on the gas company president's house," said Graham. "After this raid, Hunter Biden kicks in. Hunter Biden's business partner meets with [then-Secretary of State] John Kerry, and Vice President Biden on three occasions makes a phone call to the president of Ukraine and goes over there in March and they fire the guy, and this is the same man that the ambassador wanted investigated in 2015."
Graham added he found it "odd" that instead of lauding the Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, for investigating the Burisma chairman, he was instead relieved of his duties.
He said that in 2015, President Barack Obama's ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, said in a speech he wanted Shokin to be more forceful in his investigation of domestic corruption.
"The one person he named as being a sleazebag was the president of Burisma," Graham remarked.
Fox News' Gregg Re, Mike Emanuel and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

IG Horowitz: FBI spends $42M per year on informants

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz appears at the launch of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force at the Justice Department in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

The DOJ watchdog is highlighting the elevated level of spending at the FBI in its latest report of the bureau’s finances. In the report, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said the FBI is spending $42 million per year on payments to its informants.

Video: Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz discusses today’s report on the FBI’s Management of its Confidential Human Source Validation Processes.

Read the report: https://t.co/NKTcX4UzwH pic.twitter.com/HPGr4NEEQG
— Justice OIG (@JusticeOIG) November 19, 2019

However, only 20 percent of the informants reportedly meet the bureau’s standards. Horowitz found at least one of the FBI’s informants was a registered child sex offender.
The bureau reportedly has a mounting backlog of new informants awaiting validation, which the IG said may hinder the FBI’s operations.
“Ineffective management and oversight of confidential sources can result in jeopardizing FBI operations — placing FBI agents, sources, subjects of investigation and the public in harm’s way,” stated Horowitz. “The FBI agreed with all of our recommendations to improve its management and oversight over this important program.”
The IG also found the FBI failed to provide agents with clear guidelines on how to work with informants, which made its spending on informants even less efficient.

President Trump: China not stepping up on trade

President Trump is saying China is not stepping up as trade negotiations get increasingly complicated and a Phase One deal is further delayed. On Wednesday, trade officials close to the White House said that a partial deal could get pushed back to next year.
China is reportedly pushing for an extensive tariff rollback while the U.S. is demanding a deal that addresses intellectual property and technology transfer issues. While touring an Apple assembly plant in Austin, Texas, the president said he will not sign an inadequate deal.
“China would much rather make a trade deal than I would,” stated President Trump. “I haven’t wanted to do it yet…because I don’t think they’re stepping up to the level that I want.”
Speaking during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the president said he’s considering raising tariffs on China if they can’t make a deal. Another round of tariffs is set to go into effect December 15th.
The Trump administration had originally planned to sign the deal at the APEC Summit in Chile this month, but that event was canceled amid violent protests in the capital city. Talks have since hit a snag as Beijing pushes for a full tariff rollback from the U.S.
Chinese media has since reported that although Beijing wants a deal, they are pessimistic it will get done.