The Conservative Cave

1st impeachment hid exculpatory evidence:

Trump was accused of pressuring Zelensky to open an investigation into the activities of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in Ukraine, in exchange for releasing $400 million in U.S. military aid to the country that had already been approved by Congress.

The entire impeachment process was unethical. For starters, due to a change in the House rules quietly made by then-incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi shortly after the Democrats won back the majority in 2018, Trump was denied legal representation, the right to call witnesses, and the right to confront his accuser throughout the impeachment hearings.

You may recall that the whistleblower, who remained anonymous throughout the hearings for “safety reasons,” provided second-hand information to the inspector general of the Intelligence Community. [It should be noted that his identity was actually an open secret in Washington, D.C., and was ultimately revealed by investigative reporter Paul Sperry.]

At any rate, on Monday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released nearly 400 pages of previously undisclosed documents from the 2019 impeachment. And the newly declassified files give us a pretty good idea of why Schiff insisted upon the whistleblower’s anonymity.

Just the News editor John Solomon and his colleague Jerry Dunleavy, who requested that the files be declassified, obtained them on Sunday. They reported that the files “provide a starkly different portrait of the alleged whistleblower whose name and face were never shown to the public and whose lawyerly written letter accusing Trump of hijacking Ukraine policy for political gain was heralded by Democrats to launch impeachment proceedings.”

The new files showed that investigators from the inspector general’s office “developed derogatory evidence” about the whistleblower “including that he submitted false information in his whistleblower complaint, offered hearsay to support his allegations, and had the ‘potential for bias.'”

https://legalinsurrection.com/2026/04/newly-released-2019-impeachment-files-point-to-previously-undisclosed-exculpatory-evidence/

I don't think Leo having been a leader of the Augustine order necessarily means he understands the Just War Doctrine, invented centuries ago.

No wonder he's a White Sox fan.

Of all the DU posts that made me go "WTF?", that one made me go "WTF?" the most (at least in recent times). And it's DU, so the bar is high... er, low. I don't know.

FBI Director Kash Patel threatens to sue The Atlantic over ‘categorically false’ report alleging excessive drinking

https://nypost.com/2026/04/18/us-news/fbi-director-kash-patel-threatens-to-sue-the-atlantic-over-categorically-false-report-alleging-excessive-drinking/

FBI Director Kash Patel threatened to file a lawsuit against The Atlantic Friday over a “categorically false and defamatory” report alleging “bouts of excessive drinking” have negatively impacted his leadership of the bureau.

The “hit piece,” as Patel’s lawyer described the story, claims the FBI director’s “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences” have “alarmed” Justice Department and bureau officials – and in one alleged instance resulted in his security detail requesting “breaching equipment” to get him out of a locked room.

“Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court — bring your checkbook,” Patel said in a statement included in the piece.

1. It's The Atlantic.

2. The winds of libel lawsuits brought by public figures are already shifting toward greater accountability, and IIRC, there's a relevant case before the USSC that could thoroughly reset the Public Figure standard.

Trump Lawyers in Talks With IRS Over $10 Billion Suit

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/trump-irs-lawsuit/2026/04/17/id/1253326/

Lawyers for President Donald Trump are engaged in talks with the IRS to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit the president filed against his own tax collection agency over the leak of his tax information to news outlets between 2018 and 2020.

In a federal court filing Friday, Trump asks a judge to pause the case for 90 days while the two sides work to reach a settlement or resolution.

"This limited pause will neither prejudice the parties nor delay ultimate resolution," the filing says. "Rather, the extension will promote judicial economy and allow the Parties to explore avenues that could narrow or resolve the issues efficiently."/quote]

This is going to be weird. On one hand, that the IRS F'ed up is not even disputable. What gets weird, with Trump being POTUS, is the damages - economic and punitive. The judge will have to be vigilant wrt pressure from above on the IRS.

Well, since Leo XIV is basically saying that there is nos such thing as a just war, yeah, Leo does not understand what Catholic teaching has been for over 15 centuries. And since Leo pretzellated Isaiah 1:15 to "support" his belief, Robert Prevost showed himself unfit to shepherd Christian believers.

Here's Isaiah chapter 1, the full chapter, because context matters:

1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
    For the Lord has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
    but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its master,
    the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
    my people do not understand.”
4 Woe to the sinful nation,
    a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
    children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
    they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
    and turned their backs on him.
5 Why should you be beaten anymore?
    Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
    your whole heart afflicted.
6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
    there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts
    and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
    or soothed with olive oil.
7 Your country is desolate,
    your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners
    right before you,
    laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
8 Daughter Zion is left
    like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a cucumber field,
    like a city under siege.
9 Unless the Lord Almighty
    had left us some survivors,
we would have become like Sodom,
    we would have been like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
    you rulers of Sodom;
listen to the instruction of our God,
    you people of Gomorrah!
11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—
    what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
    of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
    in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
    who has asked this of you,
    this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
    Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
    I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
    I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
    I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
    I am not listening.
Your hands are full of blood!
16 Wash and make yourselves clean.
    Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
    stop doing wrong.
17 Learn to do right; seek justice.
    Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
    plead the case of the widow.
18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,”
    says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
    they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
    you will eat the good things of the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel,
    you will be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
21 See how the faithful city
    has become a prostitute!
She once was full of justice;
    righteousness used to dwell in her—
    but now murderers!
22 Your silver has become dross,
    your choice wine is diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are rebels,
    partners with thieves;
they all love bribes
    and chase after gifts.
They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
    the widow’s case does not come before them.
24 Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes
    and avenge myself on my enemies.
25 I will turn my hand against you;
    I will thoroughly purge away your dross
    and remove all your impurities.
26 I will restore your leaders as in days of old,
    your rulers as at the beginning.
Afterward you will be called
    the City of Righteousness,
    the Faithful City.”
27 Zion will be delivered with justice,
    her penitent ones with righteousness.
28 But rebels and sinners will both be broken,
    and those who forsake the Lord will perish.
29 “You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks
    in which you have delighted;
you will be disgraced because of the gardens
    that you have chosen.
30 You will be like an oak with fading leaves,
    like a garden without water.
31 The mighty man will become tinder
    and his work a spark;
both will burn together,
    with no one to quench the fire.”

I know, it's not brief. I highlighted the verse Leo "quoted" so its context could be more obvious. In sum, the full context shows God was calling out Judah for its failures as a society to follow God's laws within society and personally, not for making war with adjoining nations.

If you add the historical context found in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, at the time Isaiah was prophesying, Judah was militarily weak, not even able to defend itself, incapable of attacking other nations.

If Leo XIV uses the Bible for more than an out of context verse here or there to support what he believes should be true, Leo does not show it.