No one will toy with this (AOC) doll
Rudy Giuliani dared House Democrats to take him to court Tuesday, declaring he won’t comply in their “abomination” of an impeachment inquiry despite facing a subpoena over his shady campaign to find political dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine.
Having decided to not cooperate, the ex-mayor said he has parted ways with his attorney, Jon Sale, for the time being, claiming it would be “silly to have a lawyer when I don’t need one.”
However, Giuliani said he may rehire Sale if Democrats hold him in contempt over his refusal to cooperate with the subpoena, which requests documents and testimony on his Trump-endorsed attempts to strong-arm Ukrainian officials into investigating unfounded corruption claims about Biden’s family before the 2020 election.
“If they decide to do an enforcement, I’ll need someone to go to court with, and we’ll figure that out at the time,” Giuliani told the Daily News before he was set to attend the Yankees playoff game in the Bronx. “I’m not worried. It’s not authorized what they’re doing in secret. It’s an abomination of due process. I can’t imagine a court would tolerate what they’ve done.”
Sale confirmed he no longer represents Giuliani.
“My task is done for now,” Sale told The News.
Giuliani said there was no bad blood between him and Sale. “We’re still close friends. He’s still an adviser,” Giuliani said.
In a Tuesday letter to the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation counsel, Sale said Giuliani would “adopt” the White House position that the Democratic impeachment inquiry is “unconstitutional, baseless and illegitimate” because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has not held a full floor vote to initiate it.
“In addition,” Sale said in the letter, “the subpoena is overbroad, unduly burdensome and seeks documents beyond the scope of legitimate inquiry.”
Later Tuesday, Vice President Pence and the White House budget office followed Giuliani’s lead and issued letters saying they are refusing to comply with impeachment inquiry subpoenas on similar grounds.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who’s spearheading the impeachment probe into whether Trump abused his office by seeking Ukrainian interference in the 2020 election, said at a press conference Tuesday evening that he views the defied subpoenas as evidence of obstruction.
“The evidence of obstruction of Congress continues to mount,” he said.
Despite the White House claim that the inquiry is illegitimate, neither House rules nor the Constitution mandate that a floor vote be held before impeachment proceedings can begin.
Nevertheless, the impeachment inquiries into both Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton were preceded by the type of vote requested by the White House.
Pelosi hasn’t completely ruled out such a vote, though she has derided it as a pointless Republican “talking point.”
Speaking at the same press conference as Schiff, Pelosi said she won’t be holding a full vote at this time.
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in New York have subpoenaed former GOP congressman Pete Sessions as part of a criminal investigation into Rudy Giuliani and a pair of the ex-mayor’s arrested pals, according to a spokesman for Sessions.
The ex-lawmaker from Texas plans to comply with the subpoena, which seeks documents relating to Giuliani’s push to remove former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch as well as interactions Sessions had with Giuliani and a pair of his associates who were charged with campaign finance crimes last week, said Matt Mackowiak, a representative for Sessions.
“Mr. Sessions is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney from the Southern District of New York and will be providing documents to their office related to this matter over the next couple of weeks as requested,” Mackowiak told the Daily News.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the Sessions subpoena. What a doll!
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is getting a plastic figurine that will cement her status as a progressive icon for a new generation — or give conservatives a new reason to despise her.
“AOC’s bendable arms are ready to knock down the house,” says FCTRY, the Brooklyn small business that plans to produce and sell the AOC doll (photo) for $20 a pop.
The makers, who had success with a similar action doll of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, have launched the product as a test on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter.
Once enough AOC fans sign up to preorder the doll, they will start manufacturing them.
The outspoken young lawmaker appears in the white outfit she and other female lawmakers wore for their initial appearance on Capitol Hill along with her signature red lipstick, gold hoop earrings and pulled-back hairdo.
A $1 slice of each purchase will go to the Sunrise Foundation, a group that supports the broad goals of the environmental Green New Deal plan that Ocasio-Cortez (DQueens, Bronx) has championed.
The lawmaker won’t get any piece of the profits and might not even be aware of the project. The makers are seeking to establish contact with Ocasio-Cortez and give her some samples.
“Adding her to our collection of political action figures was a no-brainer,” FCTRY CEO Jason Feinberg said. “AOC is the face of the future.”