Jenifer (Zarknorph) said:

There is a simple reason Donald Trump hasn't been impeached.

I don't need to read this story - the US Constitution is a terrible way to run a country.

The politicisation of the Kavanaugh confirmation struck me most deeply.

They attacked and threatened the witnesses - as they've done so often before. They threatened their fellow Congress-critters.

Even if they'd had reasonable grounds to reject the evidence they went on to confirm a justice who had been found dreadfully wanting on a personal level. That was a terrible thing to do.

This man stands out - behaved as if he was himself very guilty and covering up for his own crimes.

Maybe this was the exact point when the US went entirely off the rails and started to plunge into a very dark place.

Analysis

ABC News

Alexander Downer's statement was the 'tipping point' for the Russia probe - and maybe impeachment

The US inspector-general says the FBI, not Alexander Downer, crossed moral lines over the 2016 US election probe.

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Di (amina046) said:

A recording of a 2018 dinner -- made public by Lev Parnas, the indicted associate of the President's personal attorney -- offers not only a new window into a world of sycophants and operators who vie for a place at Trump's table, but also disturbing proof that the President is just as narcissistic, erratic and ill-informed in private as he is in public, writes Michael D'Antonio.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/28/opinions/parnas-tape-trump-dantonio/index.html

Parnas attorney explains significance of Trump recording 02:59 Attorney: Trump caught on tape demanding ambassador be fired 00:52

Wow, I didn't realise how horrendous this is.

Parnas claims to be the root of Trump's entire Ukraine problem!

... the talk at the dinner, which was held for high-roller donors to a pro-Trump political action group, was punctuated with the kind of loaded, strained laughter you hear from people nervously responding to a boss's lame jokes ... Everyone worked hard to agree with Trump, even when he wasn't seeking agreement.

One by one the businesspeople asked whether Trump might, for example, schedule a North Korea summit at a particular locale or do something about steel prices or trucking costs. The problems of the industry that supplies compressed natural gas for vehicles are discussed at length, as are the difficulties of the marijuana business in states where it is legal to grow, sell and use it. Business has long sought favors from presidents but to hear how it's done here is a lesson in how money provides access to power in the Trump administration.

The recording reveals that Parnas — the indicted associate of Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani — complained that his effort to get into the notoriously corrupt energy business in Ukraine was being hampered by America's ambassador in Kiev, Marie Yovanovitch. As he put it, "the biggest problem there I think, where you need to start, is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She's still left over from the Clinton administration."

"The ambassador to Ukraine?" asked Trump.

"Yeah," answered Parnas. "She's basically walking around telling everybody, 'wait, he's going to get impeached, just wait.'"

With his complaint, which he deftly attached to a comment that would inflame a thin-skinned Trump, Parnas seemed to light a fuse. Although the President didn't promise to take action on behalf of the others at the dinner, after Parnas talked, Trump said, "Get rid of her. Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Ok? Do it." As he said this someone in the room clapped as if applauding the decisive way Trump appeared to give Parnas what he wanted.

... As the world knows by now, Parnas and Giuliani would work tirelessly to get rid of Yovanovitch, but the mission would not be accomplished for another year. Her dismissal would become part of a larger scandal ... impeachment, for which he is on trial in the Senate, hinged on these events.

In releasing the recording ... Parnas seems to be attempting to gain credit as he ... faces criminal charges ... related to the overall scandal ... apologized for bad mouthing Yovanovitch. 

... The implications of the recording are worse for Trump, who denies knowing the man today ... Parnas shows he's familiar with Trump's appetite for flattery when he is heard apparently bestowing a gift ("from the head rabbi in Ukraine," he says). 

... It's bad enough if, as it seems, Trump was willing to fire the ambassador to help out someone he knows well. It's worse if he was willing to do it for someone he doesn't know, but who just happened to buy himself a spot at the dinner table.

Surely, even the Republican Senators will seek to remove him after this?

And we've come full circle back to Flynn.

ABC News

Donald Trump considering 'full pardon' for ex-adviser Michael Flynn

President Donald Trump says he is considering a full pardon for former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Read more from ABC News

Good, now Mikhail Flynov can go back to Mother Russia and have a hero's welcome.