Trump's Russian Collusion

[a fan]

"He had to announce the investigations. He didn't actually have to do them, as I understood it." - Sondland.

This is key. It was never about corruption. It was about tarring a domestic political opponent.

I have said that before in this forum. Sondland has basically thrown the entire administration at the top under the bus (or underbused as is now trending on my twitter feed).

1. Corrupt Ukrainian act requested by a corrupt president.

2. Message conveyed through non-normal channels to get around actual non-political (and patriotic) employees of the government.

3. Meeting with President and foreign aid explicitly held up until requested action.

4. Action almost completed except through action of whistleblower to expose the plot (although I will say that the attempt by the Rudes to interfere was fairly well known to some of us).

Absolutely impeachable. President and about half his administration, if not more should be removed from office.

It's not even a close call.

[ABV 8.3%]

No, to none , opinions.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/role-omb-wi ... ainian-aid


Congress is looking into fixing this......like .....now....right?

Is that more than $40 million?

you tell me

No mention of javelins ???????? :roll:

or....maybe details are known by moi......

You mean these? https://newrepublic.com/article/155255/ ... ne-scandal

more proof that you don't even read, or watch, your own links

But the cretinous foreign policy practiced by the Trump administration at least helps to remind taxpayers of the way in which American foreign weapons sales have reordered presidential priorities, from the War of 1812 to Franklin Roosevelt’s “arsenal of democracy” to the Cold War and today. The Ukraine Javelin affair reflects a sad truth about American foreign policy in general, and the last half-century in particular: Strip away the soaring rhetoric of freedom and liberty, and the U.S. government is the world’s most heavily-armed protection racket—and by embracing foreign military sales, it’s exporting Trump’s fabled “American carnage” abroad.

it's as if the author was paraphrasing my thoughts........

No mention on Javelin in that article? I was giving you a heads up....

No mention in the article (OMB) I posted. How about the legislation , the actual appropriations bill? Any mention ?

giddie up N go TLD.........b/c "AID" really means we will allow a foreign country to purchase killing machines produced by R&D funded by the US taxpayer........yet we get no benefit from said sale. Do I have this correct? Or, does this go back onto the "we don't care fatty.......we love Susan luce over tom hanks, but the view is better than AM joe, or howard stern.....not sure about the Hills show? or rush....or hannity.......or joe rogan....who?

[ggait]

Biden could be exonerated by the investigation which would strengthen his position.

Gordo has mentioned several times now that the requirement/deliverable/QPQ was a public announcement of the Burisma and 2016 investigations.

That's very telling and inculpatory. Since the political benefit to Trump would obtain once the public announcement was made, regardless of whether the investigations ever happened and regardless of whether anything was ever found in the investigations.

The other thing that screams out is how clear it was that "investigations" meant "Burisma." There's no other company or topic in corrupt UK that deserves investigation? Even if you believe (which I don't) that some of these folks didn't completely connect Burisma=Biden, why the heck is just this one company the only one that matters? Completely blows away the GOP defense that Trump cared about fighting corruption generally in UK (which given Trump's sleaziness was preposterous to even claim).

Game set match.

Although having seen the video of Trump shooting someone on 5th Avenue, GOP yawns.

[Cooter]

C, where do you stand on o d releasing his tax documents?

Who is o d?

[DMac]

Orange Duce...the Prez.

[ggait]

This is a really bad day for Pompeo.

Notice the news reports from yesterday that he is trying to exit the Trump Train ASAP so he can go home to be the new Senator from KS. TBD whether he is now so stuck in this scandal that he can't leave and he gets dirtied up further.

Unless you are Ivanka or Jared, going to work for Trump isn't going to end well for you. Everything Trump touches dies.

[njbill]

Rudy’s office announced he is unavailable for comment as he is wintering in Antarctica.

[Typical Lax Dad]

This is a really bad day for Pompeo.

Notice the news reports from yesterday that he is trying to exit the Trump Train ASAP so he can go home to be the new Senator from KS. TBD whether he is now so stuck in this scandal that he can't leave and he gets dirtied up further.

Unless you are Ivanka or Jared, going to work for Trump isn't going to end well for you. Everything Trump touches dies.

He is a parasite.

[Bandito]

This is a really bad day for Pompeo.

Notice the news reports from yesterday that he is trying to exit the Trump Train ASAP so he can go home to be the new Senator from KS. TBD whether he is now so stuck in this scandal that he can't leave and he gets dirtied up further.

Unless you are Ivanka or Jared, going to work for Trump isn't going to end well for you. Everything Trump touches dies.

Lol this is a horrible take. Ambassador Sondland confirms his previous testimony that President Trump told him very clearly that he DID NOT WANT any quid pro quo. This has been a horrible week for Democrats. Nothing is working for them. Not one witness said the phone call was criminal and there is no Quid Pro Quo. How you can believe otherwise shows your cluelessness and bias.

[jhu72]

Where is Bolton now? Sondlund threw Bolton under the bus as well. I would think this pokes Bolton in the ass to want to testify.

[Bandito]

Rudy’s office announced he is unavailable for comment as he is wintering in Antarctica.

Yawn. How’s NYC doing with DeBlasio? Exactly. Democrats destroy everything they touch

[ggait]

Pretty good counsel coming from Sondland's lawyers imo.

Gordo couldn't previously remember and testify to all the details because the Administration took all his documents, didn't let Gordo see his own documents, and didn't turn over any of those documents to the impeachment committee.

Nice perjury defense and also provides some nice evidence on obstruction. I think Gordo is going to be pretty safe legally.

[jhu72]

Pretty good counsel coming from Sondland's lawyers imo.

Gordo couldn't previously remember and testify to all the details because the Administration took all his documents, didn't let Gordo see his own documents, and didn't turn over any of those documents to the impeachment committee.

Nice perjury defense and also provides some nice evidence on obstruction. I think Gordo is going to be pretty safe legally.

Agreed.

[RedFromMI]

Rudy’s office announced he is unavailable for comment as he is wintering in Antarctica.

Yawn. How’s NYC doing with DeBlasio? Exactly. Democrats destroy everything they touch

You must not have been there recently - it actually is doing pretty well...

[ggait]

Where is Bolton now? Sondlund threw Bolton under the bus as well. I would think this pokes Bolton in the ass to want to testify.

It came out yesterday that the federal judge on McGahn's testimony will rule by next Monday at the latest. If that judge rules against the Trumpsters (more likely than not), the House presumably would subpoena Bolton immediately.

Then Bolton can rely (if he wants to) on the McGahn case as clearing the way for his testimony. Or he can claim that McGahn's case isn't binding precedent (lame but technically correct) so he can dodge testifying.

Seems like Bolton is mostly concerned about not giving away his content for free. Better to preserve his stories for revelation in his upcoming book and paid speeches.

[jhu72]

So now the Nunes argument is, "yeah he did it, but he was justified, because everybody is mean to him".

Only Bandito will buy that argument.

[ggait]

Current lead headline on Fox News website:

Sondland 'never heard' from Trump on quid pro quo, but 'everyone' involved in Ukraine talks

[a fan]

Basically this is an exercise is how stupid are TrumpFans, and how far can Trump carry downticket in the next election.

Can't wait for a decade hence, when you get to hear what all these Republican Congressmen really think about Trump.


Sooooo many bestsellers await....

[DMac]

So now the Nunes argument is, "yeah he did it, but he was justified, because everybody is mean to him".

I thought Maher's recent line was pretty good.
Paraphrasing: The diffence between the Nixon and Trump impeachments is that Nixon said I'm not a crook and Trump says, yeah, I'm a crook...so what.

[ggait]

Kevin McCarthy
‏Verified account @GOPLeader
29m29 minutes ago

Case closed ⇨ Ambassador Sondland just testified under oath that he NEVER heard the president say there were conditions on aid to Ukraine.

The defense is now that Sondland never heard directly from Trump on quid pro quo.

So that makes Sondland Willie Cici.

Cici tells the FBI that Michael killed McCluskey and Sollozzo and also ordered many other murders. But Cici can't implicate Michael because the Corleones always used buffers. So Cici never received orders directly from Michael. Recall that Michael Cohen has previously testified that this is how Trump operated.

And that makes Rudy the capo a la Frank Pentangelli. I'd pay money to watch Rudy testify about this.

Life imitates art.