I/II. [The question is no longer whether there are grounds to impeach Trump. The practical question is whether there is the political will," Mr Reich concluded. As long as Republicans remain in the majority in the House (where a bill of Impeachment originates), it's unlikely. "Another reason why it's critically important to flip the House in 2018."]
https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-could-impeached-four-095033682.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=2_07 Donald Trump could be impeached on four grounds, former Labor Secretary says The Independent Samuel Osborne The IndependentMarch 9, 2017 'The question is no longer whether there are grounds to impeach Trump. The practical question is whether there is the political will': Getty Images There are now four grounds to impeach Donald Trump and a fifth is "on its way", according to former Labour Secretary Robert Reich. Posting on Twitter, Mr Reich outlined the four reasons he thinks Mr Trump could be impeached. He said Mr Trump is "'unfaithfully' executing his duties" by accusing former President Barack Obama of "undertaking an illegal (and impeachable) act." Last weekend, Mr Trump accused Mr Obama of wiretapping his phones in Trump Tower, though he provided no evidence for his claim. A spokesman for Mr Obama denied he ever ordered the wiretapping of any US citizen. Mr Reich also said although part of the constitution forbids government officials from taking things of value from foreign governments, "Trump is making big money off his Trump International Hotel by steering foreign diplomatic delegations to it, and will make a bundle off China's recent decision to grant his trademark applications for the Trump brand — decisions Chinese authorities arrived at directly because of decisions Trump has made as president." China recently granted preliminary approval for dozens of Trump-branded businesses, including new hotels, spas, massage parlours and personal security services. The former Labor Secretary also said Mr Trump's ban on travel from six Muslim-majority countries violates the 1st Amendment of the Constitution, which bans any law "respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." He also said Mr Trump "labelling the press the 'enemy of the people' and choosing whom he invites to news conferences based on whether they've given him favourable coverage" could be another reason for impeachment, as he said it violates the 1st Amendment on the freedom of the press. Finally, he wrote: "Article III Section 3 of the Constitution defines 'treason against the United States' as 'adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.' Evidence is mounting that Trump colluded with Russian operatives to win the 2016 presidential election." Mr Trump has repeatedly denied his team had contact with Russian officials during the 2016 election, but was revealed to have met with Russia's US ambassador at the height of his campaign. ***"The question is no longer whether there are grounds to impeach Trump. The practical question is whether there is the political will," Mr Reich concluded.*** [Emphasis added.] ***"As long as Republicans remain in the majority in the House (where a bill of Impeachment originates), it's unlikely.*** [Emphasis added.] ***"Another reason why it's critically important to flip the House in 2018."*** [Emphasis added.] II. [Under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, US citizens who lobby on behalf of foreign governments or political entities must disclose their work to the justice department. Willfully failing to register is a felony, though the justice department rarely files criminal charges in such cases. ... Spicer’s frustration continued when he was quizzed about the British politician Nigel Farage’s visit to the Ecuador embassy in London to see the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. Was Farage, the staunchest UK political supporter of Trump and one of the leaders of the Brexit movement, visiting Assange at Trump’s behest?] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/09/michael-flynn-foreign-agent-sean-spicer Donald Trump unaware Michael Flynn was a 'foreign agent', Sean Spicer says Former national security adviser retroactively disclosed that he lobbied for firm linked to Turkish government while working as Trump’s campaign adviser Spicer: Trump unaware Michael Flynn was a ‘foreign agent’ – video Amber Jamieson in New York Friday 10 March 2017 08.29 GMT Donald Trump was unaware his former national security adviser Michael Flynn was working as a “foreign agent” when he gave him the job, according to his press secretary. “I don’t believe that was known,” said Sean Spicer, when asked by reporters at his regular press briefing on Thursday. Flynn resigned in February after just four weeks as national security adviser when it came to light that he had misled the vice-president, Mike Pence, about phone conversations with the Russian ambassador about sanctions in December. The resignation came after a flow of intelligence leaks revealed that he had secretly discussed sanctions with the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and then tried to cover up the conversations. Sean Spicer muddles answer when pressed on Trump and Russia investigation Read more On Wednesday, it was revealed that from September to November last year, while he was working as a top adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign, Flynn was lobbying for a firm linked to the Turkish government, earning $530,000. He and his company Flynn Intel Group Inc filed retroactive documents with the Department of Justice two days ago to register as a foreign agent. ***Under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, US citizens who lobby on behalf of foreign governments or political entities must disclose their work to the justice department. Willfully failing to register is a felony, though the justice department rarely files criminal charges in such cases.*** [Emphasis added.] As part of Flynn’s lobbying for Inovo, a Dutch firm linked to the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Flynn penned an op-ed calling for a “radical” cleric (whom the Turkish government wants to extradite) to be booted out of the US. After Flynn joined the Trump administration, he, like other incoming officials, agreed not to lobby for five years after leaving government service and never to represent foreign governments. Flynn’s newly disclosed lobbying would not have violated that pledge because it occurred before he joined the Trump administration in January, but the pledge would preclude Flynn from ever doing the same type of work again. Spicer was asked whether the president would still have hired Flynn as his national security adviser if he had known he had been working as a foreign agent. “I don’t know ... That’s a hypothetical,” said Spicer. “I don’t know what was discussed prior to the appointment in terms of his background, his résumé, his client base.” “From what I’ve read, he has filed appropriate forms with the Department of Justice ; ask them and subsequently him if you have any questions about the filing,” said Spicer. Donald Trump's first 100 days as president – daily updates Read more Spicer also said he was unaware whether Flynn was involved in any discussions about foreign policy regarding Turkey. “I don’t know. I don’t have anything on that,” he replied. Opaque answers and the reply of “I don’t know” are now regular features at Spicer’s daily press conferences, which have been memorably lampooned by the actor Melissa McCarthy on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. On Wednesday, Spicer confused reporters by initially saying “we need to find out” if Trump was the subject of an investigation by the justice department into Russia’s involvement in the US election, then clarifying that he had “no reason” to believe that Trump was. “I just want to be really clear on one point which is there is no reason that we have to think that the president is the target of any investigation whatsoever,” he said eventually on Wednesday, possibly after looking down at a message on his lectern. “There is no reason to believe that he is the target of any investigation. I think that’s a very important point to make.” On Thursday, reporters returned to the topic, asking the press secretary to clarify whether the administration did or did not know for sure if the president was the subject of a DoJ investigation. “The assurance I gave you was that I’m not aware. That was 100% accurate,” said Spicer, who then seemed frustrated at the close attention paid to the exact wording of his statement. “‘I’m not aware’, ‘I don’t believe’, you could look up in a thesaurus and find some other ways ... I don’t think there’s a distinction there that’s noteworthy,” said Spicer. “The answer is, we’re not aware,” he concluded. “I don’t know how much clearer we can be on this.” ***Spicer’s frustration continued when he was quizzed about the British politician Nigel Farage’s visit to the Ecuador embassy in London to see the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. Was Farage, the staunchest UK political supporter of Trump and one of the leaders of the Brexit movement, visiting Assange at Trump’s behest?*** [Emphasis added.] “This is silly. I don’t think asking where random foreign leaders are and whether they are there ... I don’t keep his schedule,” said Spicer. “I have my own concerns here keeping track of what everyone is doing. I generally don’t worry about what’s going on across the pond,” Spicer said. The Associated Press contributed to this report An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Inovo as a Danish company. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
