{"id":77283,"date":"2020-01-26T18:52:41","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T23:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=77283"},"modified":"2020-01-26T18:52:48","modified_gmt":"2020-01-26T23:52:48","slug":"the-daily-gouge-archive-friday-january-24th-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=77283","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge Archive, Friday, January 24th, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Friday, January 24th, 2020…but before we begin, we take a moment to heartily congratulate the great Stilton Jarlsberg on earning 1st place in the<\/strong>\u00a0Best Cartoons of 2019 contest over at The Right Reasons<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stilt, before you rest on your laurels, let’s be honest: there’s great<\/span><\/em>…<\/strong><\/p>\n

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…and then there’s truly inspired<\/span><\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Though we’re forced to confess a certain soft spot for the Three Bears!\u00a0 BZ, Stilt: well done<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, here’s The Gouge<\/em>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

First up, Jeff Foutch forwarded the following from\u00a0Real Clear Investigations<\/em>\u00a0which left him wondering why the heck Republicans still haven’t<\/em><\/span> put Eric Ciaramella under oath<\/em><\/span>, particularly considering the…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whistleblower Was Overheard in ’17 Discussing With Ally How to Remove Trump<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n

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“Barely two weeks after Donald Trump took office, Eric Ciaramella<\/em><\/span> \u2013 the CIA analyst whose name was recently linked in a tweet by the president and mentioned by lawmakers as the anonymous \u201cwhistleblower” who touched off Trump’s impeachment \u2013 was overheard in the White House discussing with another staffer how to remove the newly elected president from office<\/em><\/span>, according to former colleagues<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Sources told RealClearInvestigations the staffer with whom Ciaramella (“Benedict<\/em>“)<\/span> was speaking was Sean Misko (“Arnold<\/em>“)<\/span>.<\/span> Both<\/span><\/em> were Obama administration holdovers working in the Trump White House on foreign policy and national security issues<\/em><\/span>. (Which BEGS<\/span> the question WHY<\/span>?!?<\/em>)<\/span> And both expressed anger<\/em><\/span> over Trump\u2019s new \u201cAmerica First\u201d foreign policy<\/em><\/span>, a sea change from President Obama\u2019s (Chamberlainesque<\/em>)<\/span> approach to international affairs.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust days<\/em><\/span> after he was sworn in they were already talking about trying to get rid of him<\/em><\/span>,\u201d said a White House colleague who overheard their conversation<\/em><\/span>. \u201cThey weren\u2019t just bent on subverting his agenda<\/em><\/span>,\u201d the former official added.<\/span> \u201cThey were plotting to actually have him removed from office<\/em><\/span>.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Misko left the White House last summer<\/em><\/span> to join House impeachment manager Adam Schiff\u2019s committee<\/em><\/span>, where sources say he offered \u201cguidance\u201d to the whistleblower<\/em><\/span>, who has been officially identified only as an intelligence officer in a complaint against Trump filed under whistleblower laws.<\/span> Misko then helped run the impeachment inquiry based on that complaint<\/em><\/span> as a top investigator for congressional Democrats.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

…Republicans have fought unsuccessfully<\/em><\/span> to call him as a witness<\/strong><\/span>…<\/p>\n