Rep. Elijah Cummings has evidence that Michael Flynn told a friend that one of the Trump Administration's first tasks would be to "rip up" the Russians sanctions. Update!

CUMMINGS in letter to Trey Gowdy: Michael Flynn told a business associate Russia sanctions would be "ripped up" as one of administration's first acts, according to a whistleblower. Full letter: https://t.co/DuVxH4tVpW

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) December 6, 2017

Courtesy of the Baltimore Sun:

President Donald J. Trump’s former national security adviser told a business associate that U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia would be “ripped up” by the new administration, according to a whistleblower account made public Wednesday in a letter written by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings. 

Michael T. Flynn, who pleaded guilty last week to lying to the FBI, was communicating with former business associates “within minutes” of Trump’s inauguration, according to the letter — reassuring them Russian investments would soon be available as the Trump administration lifted sanctions. 

The allegation — which suggests the Trump administration was eager to lift sanctions imposed by President Barack Obama and that Flynn may have blurred his public and private roles during his brief run at the White House — was outlined in a letter Cummings sent to Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Republican chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 

“I do not bring this whistleblower to your attention lightly,” Cummings, the Baltimore lawmaker and top Democrat on the committee wrote in the letter. 

“I have attempted to advance this investigation without exposing individuals to personal or professional risk. But the exceptionally troubling allegations in this case — combined with ongoing obstruction from the White House and others — have made this step necessary.”

D-damn! If this holds up it is proof positive that Flynn was trying to satisfy Putin's desire to get rid of those Russian sanctions, on day one!

You can read Cummings' letter here.

I imagine that Cummings has not only notified Gowdy but also Robert Mueller as well.

This just gets more interesting every single day.

Update: Trey "Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi" Gowdy has responded to the letter by Rep. Cummings.

While Democrats may want every Committee of Congress to investigate the same fact patterns, it isn’t a prudent use of resources – something they used to be mindful of. pic.twitter.com/LHkcP5jvIJ

— Trey Gowdy (@TGowdySC) December 6, 2017

You know it's like hypocrisy is the drug of choice for Republicans and they are addicted to that sweet sweet high.

Representatives Cheffetz and Cummings give press conference shaming the White House for refusing to provide documents, and suggesting that Michael Flynn may have committed a felony.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Elijah Cummings (D-MD) held a press conference on Tuesday to knock the Trump administration for denying their requests for documents related to former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. 

“We received a response from the White House refusing to provide any of the documents we requested,” Cummings said at the press conference. “The White House has refused to offer a single piece of paper in response to this committee’s bipartisan request.” 

Cummings also said Flynn might have committed a felony by not disclosing payments he received from foreign governments before he assumed the role of national security adviser. 

“This is a major problem,” Cummings said.

I have to say I am a little surprised to see Chaffetz in front of the cameras talking about this.

I wonder if that means he wants to actually do his job before his quits it altogether?

Wow, when Jason Chaffetz complains that a Republican White House is obstructing an investigation, you KNOW the writing is on the wall.

While we are on the topic of Trump advisers and Russia let me share this tweet with you from the other day.

.@RepMikeQuigley on Russia: "If the US public saw what I had seen...they would want a full-throttle investigation" https://t.co/0bmEliKJJV

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) April 24, 2017

And once again the noose gets a little tighter.  

Benghazi Committee bad ass Elijah Cummings endorses Hillary Clinton.

Courtesy of Politico:

Top Benghazi panel Democrat Elijah Cummings endorsed Hillary Clinton for president on Sunday, a move that could further sink the House Libya investigation into partisan mudslinging but helps Clinton in Cummings' home state. 

The Maryland Democrat, who also leads House Oversight Democrats, had declined to endorse the former secretary of state up to this point, telling reporters he was holding off until the Benghazi probe of the attack that left four Americans dead concluded. Clinton's work at the State Department is a key pillar of the investigation. 

But with the investigation approaching its two-year anniversary, and Maryland's late-April Democratic primary just days away, Cummings backed the front-runner in an op-ed submitted to The Washington Post, writing, according to the paper, writing that Clinton "not only understands the challenges facing Baltimore and other cities, she’s laid out a clear and detailed agenda that meets those challenges head-on." 

Cummings also took an implicit shot at Bernie Sanders: "Families in Baltimore who are hurting right now need more than the promise of a political revolution." 

I have no idea if this will actually help Hillary in Maryland, but going forward it certainly will not hurt to have Cummings in her corner.

Let's face it Elijah Cummings is a rock star to the Democrats and if you need someone to talk about the Clinton's relationship with black Americans you would be hard pressed to find a better surrogate.

I challenge you to watch this and not want to kill this guy with your own two hands. Can't do it can you?

If you had told me that I would be pissed off at a guy for being disrespectful to Trey "Benghazi Witchhunt" Gowdy I would have laughed in your face.

But somehow this POS makes that happen.

And when he smirks, nods derisively, and acts like a dick to my man Elijah Cummigs, THAT deserves a Costco sized can of Whoop-ass in my opinion.

For those who are unfamiliar with the context. 

Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy busted by the CIA for falsely accusing Hillary Clinton of outing one of their agents in an e-mail.

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

Trey Gowdy, the chair of the Select Committee on Benghazi, leveled a very serious charge against Hillary Clinton in an October 7 letter. Gowdy asserted that Hillary Clinton disclosed the name of CIA source in an email sent from her private server. Gowdy wrote that the information was “some of the most protected information in our intelligence community, the release of which could jeopardize not only national security but human lives.”

 Unfortunately for Gowdy this was not in fact true.


A letter from Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the committee, reveals that the CIA reviewed the email in question and found that the information in question was not classified. 

Cummings said that Gowdy’s accusation was “irresponsible” and suggested he owes “an immediate apology” to Hillary Clinton. 

In response, Gowdy acknowledged the CIA’s view but said that “the name of the alleged source was redacted from the material cleared for public release by someone in the Executive Branch.” Cummings explained that the name was redacted “not for classification reasons, but to protect the individual’s privacy and avoid bringing additional undue attention to this person.”

In my opinion Elijah Cummings is the MVP of this Benghazi Committee as he has busted the Republicans time and time again for suppressing information, making false allegations, and focusing the investigation on Hillary Clinton.

I imagine that if Trick or Treaters wanted to see Trey Gowdy scream like a little prison bitch all they have to do is show up to his house wearing Elijah Cummings masks.

And this is the week that Hillary herself is supposed to testify.

This should be a hoot.

"Absolutely un-American!" After Darrell Issa closes the IRS hearing without allowing the minority party to ask questions Rep. Elijah Cummings explodes in anger. Update!

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

During a hearing of the House Oversight Committee into allegations that the Internal Revenue Service scrutinized conservative groups’ tax-exempt status filings unduly, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) exploded at Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). Cummings charged that the way in which the proceedings were being conducted were “Un-American.” In apparent protest, Issa then walked out of the committee hearing. 

While making a statement before the committee, Issa stood up and asked Cummings to yield. 

“If you will sit down and allow me to ask a question,” Cummings insisted. “I am a member of a Congress of the United States of America.” 

“I am tired of this,” he continued. “You cannot just have a one-sided investigation. There is absolutely something wrong with that, and it is absolutely un-American.” 

“We had a hearing. It was adjourned,” Issa replied. “I gave you an opportunity to ask your questions. You had no questions.” 

“I do have questions,” Elijah replied. “Chairman, what are you hiding?”

At this stage, Issa walked out of the hearing 

"He's taking the fifth Elijah." I LOVED that!

I had the opportunity to see a longer clip from MSNBC this morning, and what Mediaite and this shorter clip leave out is that Issa adjourned the hearing right as Rep. Cummings started to make his statement, and then cut his mic.

I mean no wonder Cummings was pissed, but what angered him just as much was the fact that this whole hearing was a waste of time as the attorney for Lois Lerner stated that she would not be testifying today.

Update: Now Issa is claiming that Cummings slandered him:  

“He was talking into a mic in an adjourned meeting,” Issa said. “The fact is Mr. Cummings came to make a point of his objections to the process we have been going through. He was actually slandering me at the moment that the mics did go off by claiming that this had not been a real investigation.”

Ahh, somebody got hims feelings hurted.

Update 2: Here is the longer version of Issa's tantrum courtesy of MSNBC.

(By the way I just noticed that  Lois Lerner sat and listened to Elijah Cummings entire statement about the Republican IRS witch hunt even though Issa had dismissed her. For some reason that really tickled me.)

Top Democrat pisses off Darrell Issa by releasing transcripts which obliterates his conspiracy theory that the IRS "targeting" of Tea Party groups was directed by Washington.

"What somebody told the truth? Why would anybody tell the truth?"

Courtesy of Business Insider: 


Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Democratic ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, released more than 200 pages of interview transcripts Tuesday afternoon after the committee's Chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), refused to do so. 

Cummings is seeking to dispel any notion that targeting of Tea Party groups by the Internal Revenue Service was ordered from Washington. 

Cummings released transcripts with an IRS screening group manager described as a "conservative Republican," who said that the targeting of the Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status started with low-level workers in Cincinnati. The witness also said that there was no communication on the targeting with any senior IRS officials or with anyone in Washington or the Obama administration. 

Democrats have posted the key portion of the transcript here, in which the manager says he initially was made aware of a case involving a Tea Party group when an agent "asked for guidance." He agreed with the agent that there "wasn't enough information" to determine whether the group should have a tax-exempt status, and said he elevated the issue to his "area manager." 

The manager also said an official in the exempt organizations division in Washington was "pleased with the decision to elevate this case," but suggested there wasn't a political role in the targeting. 

"I do not believe that the screening of these cases had anything to do other than consistency and identifying issues that needed to have further development," the manager said.

And THAT my friends is the sound of the fat lady singing.

Of course these are facts that Darrell Issa did NOT want the American people to have access to, and in response simply refuses to accept what the transcripts prove and threw himself a little tantrum.  

Issa immediately decried the release of the transcripts, saying he was "deeply disappointed" at Cummings' decision. He said their release would encourage IRS officials to "navigate investigative interviews" with Congress. 

"After unsuccessfully trying to convince the American people that IRS officials in Washington did not play a role in inappropriate scrutiny of Tea Party groups and declaring on national television that the case of IRS targeting was ‘solved’ and Congress should ‘move on,’ this looks like flailing," Issa said. "Americans who think Congress should investigate IRS misconduct should be outraged by Mr. Cummings’ efforts to obstruct needed oversight." 

So to be clear in Darrell Issa's alternate reality withholding fact about an investigation to pimp the lie that the Obama administration did something wrong is perfectly reasonable, but releasing the facts is considered "obstructionism." 

What happens to a witch hunt when suddenly everybody in the village realizes there's no such thing as witches?

Can somebody tell me how this revelation should not result in an impeachment or a recall election to get Issa out of office?

Asked to name ONE investigation that Darrell Issa has handled appropriately and not politicized, top Democrat "can't think of any."

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Cummings told The Daily Beast that the testimony, yet to be publicly released, shows the decision by the IRS to flag tea party groups seeking non-profit status for extra scrutiny was in fact the brainchild of a Cincinnati-based screening manager, rather than the political move coming from Washington Issa and other conservatives have called it. What’s more, said the Maryland Democrat, that manager is a self-described “conservative Republican” who volunteered that information to a committee investigator. “They didn’t ask him. He said he was.” 

Cummings—who has yet to receive a response to the letter he sent Issa Thursday asking for the manager’s full testimony to be released by this coming Monday—ripped the committee chair for first offering inflammatory allegations and then “scrambling . . . to find the facts to match the allegations.“ 

“It kills you,” said Cummings. “It not only hurts the credibility of the Chairman, but hurts the credibility of the whole committee, both Republicans and Democrats.” He claimed “a number of reporters” no longer trust Issa, and now feel obliged to check with Cummings “for the full story.” 

Asked to name one Issa-led investigation that had been appropriately managed and not politicized, Cummings paused. “That’s a tough question,” he said, later adding “I don’t want to say there were none, but I can’t think of any.”

You know I often refer to people like Darrell Issa as "assholes." But to be fair that would be an insult to assholes everywhere to continue to do so. 

The guy is so transparently partisan, and slimy, that he seems to be the very embodiment of every terrible characteristic that we assign to politicians.

I certainly hope that the 49th District in California is paying close attention, because I cannot imagine that they are happy with the representation they get from this douchebag.

 Well great, now I've insulted douchbags!