7 Things: White House won’t play the impeachment game, ALGOP challenges Doug Jones to represent Alabama, IG scope into 2016 is widening and more

7. The University of Alabama deemed racist for reasons yet to be determined

• After confusing student protests over racial issues on campus, without a clear reason for the protests, the University of Alabama has given in and told the students they will establish an “advisory committee” that will talk about issues related to “diversity, equity and inclusion.”
• The students are tired of not having their campus protest moment. The closest thing to reasons for this come from senior student Mikayla Wyatt’s pronouncement that “Students are just tired,” as she rattled off some tropes about not being heard and the sending of a letter to University of Alabama President Stuart Bell calling for him address the non-inclusive atmosphere on campus.

6. Apprehensions at the border are down

• Customs and Border Protection has announced that in September they made 52,546 apprehensions at the border, which is 18% less than the 64,000 apprehensions in August and 65% less than the 144,000 apprehensions in May.
• Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan said, “This represents the fourth month in a row of a steady decline in apprehensions,” and labeled this “an unprecedented achievement.”

5. Byrne is over impeachment

• U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) has laid out the current impeachment efforts by the Democrats and pointed out how the latest allegations lack credibility, beginning with how U.S. Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) has lost credibility since making vague promises of a “bombshell” during the Mueller report days.
• Byrne said that the impeachment issues due to President Donald Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine “is just the latest impeachment flavor of the week after earlier attempts fell flat.” He mentioned how the Department of Justice found no criminal behavior in the case already, and he urged, “We must stand up during tough times like these.”

4. Expel Pelosi from Congress

• U.S. Representative Ralph Abraham (R-LA) introduced a resolution to expel House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) from Congress because her “vicious crusade against our lawfully-elected President is nothing more than a politically-motivated witch hunt and it must be stopped.”
• Since the House has a Democrat majority, there’s no chance that the resolution will actually pass, but it’s instead symbolic of how frustrated some Republicans have become with the Democrats’ relentless attempts at impeachment.

3. The IG investigation into the 2016 election is growing

• While the NYC/DC media bubble froths over impeachment talk, the investigation into the origins of the investigation against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump seems to be growing larger, and now it includes the post-election timeframe including the appointment of a special counsel.
• For all the talk of foreign interference in elections because President Donald Trump asked Ukraine and China to investigate corruption, missing from that larger conversation is that Attorney General William Barr and investigator John Durham traveled to Italy to talk to law enforcement officials there about the probe and have also held conversations with officials in the U.K. and Australia about the investigation.

2. Doug Jones urged to represent Alabama voters

• During a press conference with the Republican National Committee, Alabama Republican Party Chairwoman Terry Lathan called on U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) to properly represent his constituents by not supporting impeaching President Donald Trump.
• Lathan noted the multiple times that Jones has “sided with radical Democrats in his party, whether it’s obstructing President Trump’s policies or voting against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation,” and she went on to ask whether Jones would vote against impeachment to represent the way Alabama supports Trump. Jones replied, saying “there appears to be evidence of abuse of power [by the president].”

1. The White House won’t comply with an impeachment inquiry

• In an eight-page letter sent to Pelosi and top Democrats, the White House explained that they won’t comply or participate in the “illegitimate and unconstitutional” impeachment inquiry. The letter also rejected the “baseless, unconstitutional efforts to overturn the democratic process.”
• The letter stated that the press conference held by Pelosi last month wasn’t enough to begin an impeachment inquiry, and the House has failed to formally vote to open an impeachment inquiry. Pelosi has stood by her claim that there’s no “House precedent that the whole House vote before proceeding with an impeachment inquiry.”