January 1, Trump Lawyers Say No to Impeachment Participation

This Day in History | 2001

Energy trading company Enron files for the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy in history. 

Good Morning Middle Americans, 

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler didn’t just get a no, he got a hard no from President Trump’s White House lawyers. Neither, the president, nor anyone from his legal team or his inner circle will be participating in this week’s impeachment hearings. They let Rep. Nadler and company no exactly why in a letter you can read in our story below. 

Also today, it was a nightmare return trip for millions after a winter storm strikes on tail end of the Thanksgiving day weekend. And it’s not over yet. 

Finally, remember Lisa Page, the FBI lawyer who’s intimate text messages with a co-worker became part of the Meuller probe? She’s done being quiet. She says seeing president Trump act out an orgasim on stage while referencing her text messages inspired her to speak up.  We can’t reach peak 2019 yet. It’s only December. 

Read all about it. 

– Fraser Dixon

Trump, Lawyers Won’t Participate in Upcoming Impeachment Hearing

(ABC News) – President Donald Trump and his lawyers will not participate in Wednesday’s impeachment hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, according to a letter from the White House to the committee.

“As for the hearing scheduled for December 4, we cannot fairly be expected to participate in a hearing while the witnesses are yet to be named and while it remains unclear whether the Judiciary Committee will afford the President a fair process through additional hearings. More importantly, an invitation to an academic discussion with law professors does not begin to provide the President with any semblance of a fair process. Accordingly, under the current circumstances, we do not intend to participate in your Wednesday hearing,” White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote in a Sunday evening letter to Chairman Jerry Nadler.

Find out more about the White House’s response to the Dems request here

Storm Brings Delays on Hectic Day for U.S. Air Travel

(Wall Street Journal) – Freezing rain and snow swept across the Northeast on Sunday, disrupting plans for millions returning home after the Thanksgiving holiday on what was expected to be the busiest day ever for U.S. air travel.

More than three million passengers had plans to fly with U.S. carriers on Sunday, the largest number for a single day, according to Airlines for America, an industry trade group. A record of 31.6 million passengers were expected to travel aboard U.S. carriers world-wide during the 12 days the group counts for Thanksgiving travel, it said.

By Sunday afternoon, as the storm began passing through New York and Massachusetts, airlines were canceling hundreds of flights while delaying thousands of others.

Read more about the travel delay here

Former FBI Lawyer Lisa Page: “I’m Done Being Quiet”

(The Daily Beast) – It’s not often that you interview a subject who has no interest in being famous. But recently, I did just that when I sat down with Lisa Page the week before Thanksgiving in my hotel room in Washington, D.C. Page, of course, is the former FBI lawyer whose text-message exchanges with agent Peter Strzok that belittled Donald Trump and expressed fear at his possible victory became international news. They were hijacked by Trump to fuel his “deep state” conspiracy.

For the nearly two years since her name first made the papers, she’s been publicly silent (she did have a closed-door interview with House members in July 2018). I asked her why she was willing to talk now. “Honestly, his demeaning fake orgasm was really the straw that broke the camel’s back,” she says. The president called out her name as he acted out an orgasm in front of thousands of people at a Minneapolis rally on Oct. 11, 2019.

Learn more about FBI lawyer Lisa Page’s decision to speak out here