— Featured —
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Looking Beyond Those Impeachment Headlines
Impeachment is the top story in the mainstream media, so let’s take a look at some key commentary about those dramatic headlines.
Andrew McCarthy, writing at The Hill, declares <[link removed]>: “There is no impeachment inquiry. There are no subpoenas.” He urges readers to ignore the impeachment hype.
McCarthy explains that Democratic House committee chairmen have sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asking him to cooperate with their demands to depose State Department officials and review various records. But a letter does not have the legal force of a subpoena (which can be challenged in court).
Moreover, Democrats are acting unilaterally, without consulting their Republican colleagues at all. McCarthy notes <[link removed]>:
...Every presidential impeachment inquiry, from Andrew Johnson through Bill Clinton, has been the subject of bipartisan consultation and debate. The House has recognized that its legitimacy, and the legitimacy of its most solemn actions, must be based on the consideration of the whole body, not the diktat of a few partisan bosses.
Not this one. This one is a misadventure in exactly the bare-knuckles partisanship the Framers feared. To be sure, no one has the power to prevent willful House leadership from misbehaving this way. But we’re not required to pretend the charade is real.
For more on the terrible precedents being set by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats, see William McGurn’s opinion piece <[link removed]> in the Wall Street Journal on Monday.
Given the irregularity of the Democrats’ procedures here, it is notable that Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has called for Speaker Pelosi to halt the House’s impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump “until transparent and equitable rules and procedures are established to govern the inquiry, as is customary,” as National Reviewreports <[link removed]>.
His letter to the Speaker can be seen here <[link removed]>.
And finally, New Neo at the Legal Insurrection blog reminds us that “resistance by whistleblower” was part of the anti-Trump plan from the start. He quotes a February 2017 article in Vanity Fair that examined the initial “resistance” plans of entrenched federal civil servants <[link removed]> horrified by the election of Donald Trump.
One Justice Department employee told the [Washington Post <[link removed]>in January 2017], “You’re going to see the bureaucrats using time to their advantage,” and added that “people here will resist and push back against orders they find unconscionable,” by whistle-blowing, leaking to the press, and lodging internal complaints. Others are staying in contact with officials appointed by President Obama to learn more about how they can undermine Trump’s agenda and attending workshops on how to effectively engage in civil disobedience, the Post reports.
Jim Geraghty at National Reviewraises this question <[link removed]>: what important issues are we not talking about, while we’re all talking about impeachment? He mentions hot spots like Hong Kong, China, Somalia, and Libya.
An Israeli military patrol in the Golan Heights in September.
Iran and Israel
Israel pulled off an astonishing operation in January 2018, secretly stealing Iran’s nuclear archives from Tehran. The Jerusalem Post writes about the Mossad's spy chief <[link removed]>, Yossi Cohen, who ordered and managed the operation.
That daring operation was a game-changer for Western policy makers’ understanding of the Iranian nuclear threat. But Iran continues to make headway in a more conventional arena. The Wall Street Journalreports <[link removed]>:
Israel is fighting off Iranian expansion across the Middle East, but danger for the Jewish state lurks near its own borders. Painstaking work by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their loyal proxies has succeeded in laying the groundwork for a second Iranian front with Israel in the Golan Heights.
The first front is to Israel’s north in South Lebanon. The Golan, which Israel won from Syria in 1967, lies further east. Though Israel rules the skies, the Syrian land adjoining Israel’s border appears increasingly to belong to Iran. Reports from both Israelis and Syrian opposition groups have revealed glimpses of the methods the Iranians and their allies have employed to build a military infrastructure on the Syrian side of the Golan.
Important RJC Links
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— Short Takes —
Will another Senator Coleman be elected next year? <[link removed]>In Minnesota, there’s the possibility of another “Senator Coleman” being elected in 2020, as Minnesota Public Radio reports.
Chanhassen City Council Member Julia Coleman, the daughter-in-law of RJC National Chairman and former US Senator Norm Coleman, is one of the Republicans running for the open seat in the state Senate left by the departure of Sen. Scott Jensen.
Tobin: It’s time to put an end to labeling Trump an anti-Semite <[link removed]>
The Left is trying to hold up Pres. Trump’s comments about Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) as examples of anti-Semitism.
Tobin writes that, “If anti-Semitism is just one more brickbat to be tossed around with impunity in the course of a bitter and all-too-savage debate on impeachment, then those who are using it in that way are effectively saying that it’s not as important as their partisan goals."
Farewell and thank you to Sigal Mandelker <[link removed]>
The Trump administration’s sanctions chief, responsible for wielding US financial firepower as the White House’s primary foreign-policy tool, is leaving for the private sector, Treasury Department officials said. Sigal Mandelker, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, signaled over the summer her desire to step down, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told The Wall Street Journal.
Ms. Mandelker oversaw one of the most aggressive expansions of sanctions power in modern US history, as the administration has sought to strong-arm North Korea and Iran into giving up nuclear weapon programs, force Venezuela’s longtime ruler to cede power, and coerce Russia to stop hacking the US political system.
Read more about her here <[link removed]>.
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