WASHINGTON — In the nation’s capital, it seems as though impeachment is in the air we breath — if not in the water we drink. But in Connecticut and rest of the putatively normal world, political figures spent the week plying their trade per usual — well, almost per usual.
With President Donald Trump doubling down on the propriety of his demands that Ukraine (and now China) investigate his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden (and son, Hunter), lawmakers mostly were out of town for scheduled recess.
Rep. Jim Himes made it back to Washington in time for a closed-door House intel hearing Friday that featured intelligence community IG Michael Atkinson, who was among those shepherding the legendary whistleblower’s complaint (about Trump’s July 25 phone call to Ukraine’s president).
But for most of the week, Himes was at an undisclosed location. It was an overseas trip as part of his membership on House intel. Very hush-hush — but we assume Himes never uttered the words: “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”
My enterprising colleague Emilie Munson figured it out after seeing media reports from Pakistan talking about his trip there. Evidently Himes and another committee Democrat, Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, were there to check up on Pakistani efforts to curtail use of its remote Afghanistan-border regions as a terrorist sanctuary.
Reps. Rosa DeLauro, Jahana Hayes and Richard Blumenthal had a more pedestrian time of it.
Blumenthal celebrated Rosh Hashana on Monday and his office churned out press releases on Blumenthal consumer-type topics: E-cigarettes, a questionable Weight Watcher’s app for kids, and exploitation of drivers by Amazon subcontractors.
Hayes’ press office kept a low profile but her appearances in her 5th District were ubiquitous and copious on social media. Lots of education stops at places like Naugatuck Valley Community College (a Hayes alma mater) and Wilcox Technical High School in Meriden. Also, there was a visit to Trumpf Inc. in Farmington, which is a real manufacturing enterprise and not some play on the pre-immigration Trump family name in Germany, Drumpf.
Murphy also was out of town, but his destination was Las Vegas for two appearances at the MSNBC Gun Safety Forum — timed to coincide with the second anniversary of the horrific mass-shooting there.
I wonder if by chance he stopped in somewhere to place a bet on Trump-impeachment likelihood. As of Wednesday, the odds of Trump getting impeached were 1/2 — meaning a $100 bet pays $50, according to the website TMZ. Not in the bettor’s favor, and it’s getting more difficult.
QPQ, Murphy style
Each of Murphy’s subsequent tweets ends in “pretty simple, right?” He goes through how Trump reminds Zelenskiy that the U.S. “does a lot” for Ukraine but the relationship is not “reciprocal.” Murphy ends with Giuliani and Vice President Mike Pence putting icing on the cake, in case it wasn’t clear to Zelenskiy what he was supposed to do.
All that was before texts between the U.S. ambassador in Kiev and the ambassador to the E.U. were released, which pretty much confirmed a quid pro quo.
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