Oh good. Just got a Google news notification from Fox news reading:
"Ex-Ukraine prosecutor said he was told to back off probe of Biden-linked firm, files show"
And yes, "files" credulously refers to Rudy's notes in that big envelope of bullshit. And no, the article never so much as hints that anyone other than those salty Dems questioned the veracity of its various claims.
I'm so ready for Fox and its viewers to finally pierce the veil, get trapped into the alternate reality they're describing, and be replaced with their 'evil' twins who are actually pretty alright.
Edit: Well this is a shitty ToTP
So here's an article from Bizzaro-Fox that mentions the packet the IG brought included State department emails pushing back on Rudy's nonsense.
The packet also includes internal State Department emails discussing Yovanovitch. Career officials undertook a concerted effort to shield the then-ambassador to Ukraine from conspiracies peddled by conservative media outlets beginning in March.
Acting Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker and George Kent, a State Department official who oversees Ukraine policy and was previously the deputy chief of mission in Kyiv, sought to provide counselor Ulrich Brechbuhl and Undersecretary for Political Affairs David Hale with facts to counter the conspiratorial narratives being pushed about the career diplomat.
On March 31, Reeker forwarded a list of "fake news driven smear out of Ukraine" and counter-examples to Brechbuhl, writing: "It's a good summary of the story lines being peddled in the this, with a good balance of facts."
...
Kent suggested taking a similar approach to the US Embassy in Moscow "if (they) wanted to push back hard(er)," writing, "I know US Embassy Moscow has in the past derided fake letters by circling in red all the misspellings and grammar mistakes and reposting it."
Man, I'm actually starting to worry that Rudy has fucked up so bad, and is going to be such a convenient scapegoat in all this mess, that the entire cabinet and trump are going to collectively say he was the ring leader and they were just unknowingly following along. I imagine Rudy is convinced a pardon is coming no matter how bad it gets, but I think he's going to be surprised.
Also, good to see this is finally catching up with Pence maybe. Pence is pretty dumb, but he knew exactly what was up when he was going to Ukraine. Also I realized today reading about Trump's cussing on twitter that if he's dumb enough to violate terms and they kill his account, his only defense tool is gone. He's already violated terms plenty and they'll never ban his account, but a man can dream....
President Trump said Wednesday that his controversial July call with his Ukrainian counterpart was transcribed “word-for-word, comma-for-comma,” an assertion that fueled growing questions about the nature and completeness of an official memorandum about the call released by the White House last week.
“This is an exact word-for-word transcript of the conversation, taken by very talented stenographers,” Trump said.
White House officials previously had portrayed the document as not a verbatim transcription but rather a summary that closely tracked the words the president used in his July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. They said it was being released in a bid to bring transparency and clarity to a call at the heart of a consuming political scandal that has sparked a House impeachment investigation.
Current and former U.S. officials studying the document pointed to several elements that, they say, indicate that the document may have been handled in an unusual way.
Those include the use of ellipses — punctuation indicating that information has been deleted for clarity or other reasons — that traditionally have not appeared in summaries of presidential calls with foreign leaders, according to the current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the elaborate, non-public process.
The White House declined to comment Wednesday about the unusual markings or other apparent discrepancies. Shortly after the document’s release last week, a White House official had said that the ellipses did not indicate missing words but referred to “a trailing off of a voice or pause,” and called it standard practice for records of presidential phone calls.
Current and former officials said that would be slightly different from previous practice. They said when presidents simply trail off in a way that note-takers can’t hear, that point traditionally has been marked “[inaudible]." When fragments of sentences aren’t readily understood by note-takers, or when comments repeat a previous thought, they said, the transcripts had often been marked with dashes.
The record of the presidential call with Zelensky, which is labeled “MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION,” was marked as having been produced by note-takers in the White House Situation Room, as is standard for calls with foreign leaders. The record, however, is unusual for lacking a tracking number that would normally indicate it had been circulated to senior subject experts and the national security adviser’s office for review and edits. Instead of a “package” number, the memo released by the White House carries a stamp saying: “PkgNumberShort.”
The document additionally carries classification markings that Situation Room staffers do not normally add when they create a word-for-word transcript, current and former officials said.
“I thought to myself, ‘This didn’t go through the normal process,’ ” said one former government official who was among several who handled these records and found the document released by the White House curious.
Such phone calls also typically create at least two types of documents: a verbatim transcript made by note-takers in the White House Situation Room and an edited summary that is more widely circulated.
“The one that was released is not the one the Situation Room created,” said one person familiar with the creation of records of calls with foreign leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the secretive process. “That’s just not possible.”
One one hand, I can simply believe they were incompetent note-takers. On the other hand, I can also believe they are corrupt idiots and there is a more detailed transcript that is somehow more damning.
This is like watching a boat smash into a reef, except everyone has either purposely chained themselves to the boat or are complicit enough to not jump overboard, while at the same time the Captain is looking through the spyglass the wrong way and helmsman is steering with his dick.
They think they can stop sinking by bailing all the water into the boat. Can't sink into the sea if the sea is empty!
Trump's attempts to control the frame are very much relevant on an impeachment attempt that is mostly a war for PR, given that the result is already set in stone.
President Trump said Wednesday that his controversial July call with his Ukrainian counterpart was transcribed “word-for-word, comma-for-comma,” an assertion that fueled growing questions about the nature and completeness of an official memorandum about the call released by the White House last week.
“This is an exact word-for-word transcript of the conversation, taken by very talented stenographers,” Trump said.
White House officials previously had portrayed the document as not a verbatim transcription but rather a summary that closely tracked the words the president used in his July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. They said it was being released in a bid to bring transparency and clarity to a call at the heart of a consuming political scandal that has sparked a House impeachment investigation.
Current and former U.S. officials studying the document pointed to several elements that, they say, indicate that the document may have been handled in an unusual way.
Those include the use of ellipses — punctuation indicating that information has been deleted for clarity or other reasons — that traditionally have not appeared in summaries of presidential calls with foreign leaders, according to the current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the elaborate, non-public process.
The White House declined to comment Wednesday about the unusual markings or other apparent discrepancies. Shortly after the document’s release last week, a White House official had said that the ellipses did not indicate missing words but referred to “a trailing off of a voice or pause,” and called it standard practice for records of presidential phone calls.
Current and former officials said that would be slightly different from previous practice. They said when presidents simply trail off in a way that note-takers can’t hear, that point traditionally has been marked “[inaudible]." When fragments of sentences aren’t readily understood by note-takers, or when comments repeat a previous thought, they said, the transcripts had often been marked with dashes.
The record of the presidential call with Zelensky, which is labeled “MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION,” was marked as having been produced by note-takers in the White House Situation Room, as is standard for calls with foreign leaders. The record, however, is unusual for lacking a tracking number that would normally indicate it had been circulated to senior subject experts and the national security adviser’s office for review and edits. Instead of a “package” number, the memo released by the White House carries a stamp saying: “PkgNumberShort.”
The document additionally carries classification markings that Situation Room staffers do not normally add when they create a word-for-word transcript, current and former officials said.
“I thought to myself, ‘This didn’t go through the normal process,’ ” said one former government official who was among several who handled these records and found the document released by the White House curious.
Such phone calls also typically create at least two types of documents: a verbatim transcript made by note-takers in the White House Situation Room and an edited summary that is more widely circulated.
“The one that was released is not the one the Situation Room created,” said one person familiar with the creation of records of calls with foreign leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the secretive process. “That’s just not possible.”
One one hand, I can simply believe they were incompetent note-takers. On the other hand, I can also believe they are corrupt idiots and there is a more detailed transcript that is somehow more damning.
The memorandum is doctored. That's why Trump thought it would exonerate him.
President Trump said Wednesday that his controversial July call with his Ukrainian counterpart was transcribed “word-for-word, comma-for-comma,” an assertion that fueled growing questions about the nature and completeness of an official memorandum about the call released by the White House last week.
“This is an exact word-for-word transcript of the conversation, taken by very talented stenographers,” Trump said.
White House officials previously had portrayed the document as not a verbatim transcription but rather a summary that closely tracked the words the president used in his July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. They said it was being released in a bid to bring transparency and clarity to a call at the heart of a consuming political scandal that has sparked a House impeachment investigation.
Current and former U.S. officials studying the document pointed to several elements that, they say, indicate that the document may have been handled in an unusual way.
Those include the use of ellipses — punctuation indicating that information has been deleted for clarity or other reasons — that traditionally have not appeared in summaries of presidential calls with foreign leaders, according to the current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the elaborate, non-public process.
The White House declined to comment Wednesday about the unusual markings or other apparent discrepancies. Shortly after the document’s release last week, a White House official had said that the ellipses did not indicate missing words but referred to “a trailing off of a voice or pause,” and called it standard practice for records of presidential phone calls.
Current and former officials said that would be slightly different from previous practice. They said when presidents simply trail off in a way that note-takers can’t hear, that point traditionally has been marked “[inaudible]." When fragments of sentences aren’t readily understood by note-takers, or when comments repeat a previous thought, they said, the transcripts had often been marked with dashes.
The record of the presidential call with Zelensky, which is labeled “MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION,” was marked as having been produced by note-takers in the White House Situation Room, as is standard for calls with foreign leaders. The record, however, is unusual for lacking a tracking number that would normally indicate it had been circulated to senior subject experts and the national security adviser’s office for review and edits. Instead of a “package” number, the memo released by the White House carries a stamp saying: “PkgNumberShort.”
The document additionally carries classification markings that Situation Room staffers do not normally add when they create a word-for-word transcript, current and former officials said.
“I thought to myself, ‘This didn’t go through the normal process,’ ” said one former government official who was among several who handled these records and found the document released by the White House curious.
Such phone calls also typically create at least two types of documents: a verbatim transcript made by note-takers in the White House Situation Room and an edited summary that is more widely circulated.
“The one that was released is not the one the Situation Room created,” said one person familiar with the creation of records of calls with foreign leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the secretive process. “That’s just not possible.”
One one hand, I can simply believe they were incompetent note-takers. On the other hand, I can also believe they are corrupt idiots and there is a more detailed transcript that is somehow more damning.
The memorandum is doctored. That's why Trump thought it would exonerate him.
I stand by this prediction!
What could there possibly be in a call which is worse than what is there? Does the Ukrainian guy say, "Hang on Trump, that seems a bit treasony" and Trump responds, "Treason, I'm a bought and paid for Russian spy"?
"That is cool" - Abraham Lincoln
+8
Options
FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
President Trump said Wednesday that his controversial July call with his Ukrainian counterpart was transcribed “word-for-word, comma-for-comma,” an assertion that fueled growing questions about the nature and completeness of an official memorandum about the call released by the White House last week.
“This is an exact word-for-word transcript of the conversation, taken by very talented stenographers,” Trump said.
White House officials previously had portrayed the document as not a verbatim transcription but rather a summary that closely tracked the words the president used in his July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. They said it was being released in a bid to bring transparency and clarity to a call at the heart of a consuming political scandal that has sparked a House impeachment investigation.
Current and former U.S. officials studying the document pointed to several elements that, they say, indicate that the document may have been handled in an unusual way.
Those include the use of ellipses — punctuation indicating that information has been deleted for clarity or other reasons — that traditionally have not appeared in summaries of presidential calls with foreign leaders, according to the current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the elaborate, non-public process.
The White House declined to comment Wednesday about the unusual markings or other apparent discrepancies. Shortly after the document’s release last week, a White House official had said that the ellipses did not indicate missing words but referred to “a trailing off of a voice or pause,” and called it standard practice for records of presidential phone calls.
Current and former officials said that would be slightly different from previous practice. They said when presidents simply trail off in a way that note-takers can’t hear, that point traditionally has been marked “[inaudible]." When fragments of sentences aren’t readily understood by note-takers, or when comments repeat a previous thought, they said, the transcripts had often been marked with dashes.
The record of the presidential call with Zelensky, which is labeled “MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION,” was marked as having been produced by note-takers in the White House Situation Room, as is standard for calls with foreign leaders. The record, however, is unusual for lacking a tracking number that would normally indicate it had been circulated to senior subject experts and the national security adviser’s office for review and edits. Instead of a “package” number, the memo released by the White House carries a stamp saying: “PkgNumberShort.”
The document additionally carries classification markings that Situation Room staffers do not normally add when they create a word-for-word transcript, current and former officials said.
“I thought to myself, ‘This didn’t go through the normal process,’ ” said one former government official who was among several who handled these records and found the document released by the White House curious.
Such phone calls also typically create at least two types of documents: a verbatim transcript made by note-takers in the White House Situation Room and an edited summary that is more widely circulated.
“The one that was released is not the one the Situation Room created,” said one person familiar with the creation of records of calls with foreign leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the secretive process. “That’s just not possible.”
One one hand, I can simply believe they were incompetent note-takers. On the other hand, I can also believe they are corrupt idiots and there is a more detailed transcript that is somehow more damning.
The memorandum is doctored. That's why Trump thought it would exonerate him.
I stand by this prediction!
What could there possibly be in a call which is worse than what is there? Does the Ukrainian guy say, "Hang on Trump, that seems a bit treasony" and Trump responds, "Treason, I'm a bought and paid for Russian spy"?
Considering the talking points, I am assuming an outright quid quo pro
The man labeled as the "Ukraine gas exec" is Devon Archer, an American longtime business partner of Hunter Biden.
Why the heck does he think that suddenly justifies what he originally claimed he didn't do?
Looking through Trump's tweets of his campaign ads, Im starting to feel real nervous with the language he uses
The dude ain't leaving that office peacefully
I mean he claimed election fraud for an election he won, there was zero chance he would lose in 2020 and not claim the election was rigged. the question is more how everyone else deals with that
President Trump said Wednesday that his controversial July call with his Ukrainian counterpart was transcribed “word-for-word, comma-for-comma,” an assertion that fueled growing questions about the nature and completeness of an official memorandum about the call released by the White House last week.
“This is an exact word-for-word transcript of the conversation, taken by very talented stenographers,” Trump said.
White House officials previously had portrayed the document as not a verbatim transcription but rather a summary that closely tracked the words the president used in his July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. They said it was being released in a bid to bring transparency and clarity to a call at the heart of a consuming political scandal that has sparked a House impeachment investigation.
Current and former U.S. officials studying the document pointed to several elements that, they say, indicate that the document may have been handled in an unusual way.
Those include the use of ellipses — punctuation indicating that information has been deleted for clarity or other reasons — that traditionally have not appeared in summaries of presidential calls with foreign leaders, according to the current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the elaborate, non-public process.
The White House declined to comment Wednesday about the unusual markings or other apparent discrepancies. Shortly after the document’s release last week, a White House official had said that the ellipses did not indicate missing words but referred to “a trailing off of a voice or pause,” and called it standard practice for records of presidential phone calls.
Current and former officials said that would be slightly different from previous practice. They said when presidents simply trail off in a way that note-takers can’t hear, that point traditionally has been marked “[inaudible]." When fragments of sentences aren’t readily understood by note-takers, or when comments repeat a previous thought, they said, the transcripts had often been marked with dashes.
The record of the presidential call with Zelensky, which is labeled “MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION,” was marked as having been produced by note-takers in the White House Situation Room, as is standard for calls with foreign leaders. The record, however, is unusual for lacking a tracking number that would normally indicate it had been circulated to senior subject experts and the national security adviser’s office for review and edits. Instead of a “package” number, the memo released by the White House carries a stamp saying: “PkgNumberShort.”
The document additionally carries classification markings that Situation Room staffers do not normally add when they create a word-for-word transcript, current and former officials said.
“I thought to myself, ‘This didn’t go through the normal process,’ ” said one former government official who was among several who handled these records and found the document released by the White House curious.
Such phone calls also typically create at least two types of documents: a verbatim transcript made by note-takers in the White House Situation Room and an edited summary that is more widely circulated.
“The one that was released is not the one the Situation Room created,” said one person familiar with the creation of records of calls with foreign leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the secretive process. “That’s just not possible.”
One one hand, I can simply believe they were incompetent note-takers. On the other hand, I can also believe they are corrupt idiots and there is a more detailed transcript that is somehow more damning.
The memorandum is doctored. That's why Trump thought it would exonerate him.
I stand by this prediction!
Reporting and the complaint says Ukraine didn't begin to worry the aid had been blocked until weeks later, so I remain on the memo-is-accurate side of the fence. His repeated use of "perfect" comes off like his inner braggart wanting to make clear that there was a very specific goal for that call; one he didn't fuck up by mentioning withholding the aid.
Because, otherwise, why didn't he mention he was withholding the aid? Seems like a thing you'd want to hash out on the record, unless you knew that negotiation wasn't going to be exactly above board.
President Trump said Wednesday that his controversial July call with his Ukrainian counterpart was transcribed “word-for-word, comma-for-comma,” an assertion that fueled growing questions about the nature and completeness of an official memorandum about the call released by the White House last week.
“This is an exact word-for-word transcript of the conversation, taken by very talented stenographers,” Trump said.
White House officials previously had portrayed the document as not a verbatim transcription but rather a summary that closely tracked the words the president used in his July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. They said it was being released in a bid to bring transparency and clarity to a call at the heart of a consuming political scandal that has sparked a House impeachment investigation.
Current and former U.S. officials studying the document pointed to several elements that, they say, indicate that the document may have been handled in an unusual way.
Those include the use of ellipses — punctuation indicating that information has been deleted for clarity or other reasons — that traditionally have not appeared in summaries of presidential calls with foreign leaders, according to the current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the elaborate, non-public process.
The White House declined to comment Wednesday about the unusual markings or other apparent discrepancies. Shortly after the document’s release last week, a White House official had said that the ellipses did not indicate missing words but referred to “a trailing off of a voice or pause,” and called it standard practice for records of presidential phone calls.
Current and former officials said that would be slightly different from previous practice. They said when presidents simply trail off in a way that note-takers can’t hear, that point traditionally has been marked “[inaudible]." When fragments of sentences aren’t readily understood by note-takers, or when comments repeat a previous thought, they said, the transcripts had often been marked with dashes.
The record of the presidential call with Zelensky, which is labeled “MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION,” was marked as having been produced by note-takers in the White House Situation Room, as is standard for calls with foreign leaders. The record, however, is unusual for lacking a tracking number that would normally indicate it had been circulated to senior subject experts and the national security adviser’s office for review and edits. Instead of a “package” number, the memo released by the White House carries a stamp saying: “PkgNumberShort.”
The document additionally carries classification markings that Situation Room staffers do not normally add when they create a word-for-word transcript, current and former officials said.
“I thought to myself, ‘This didn’t go through the normal process,’ ” said one former government official who was among several who handled these records and found the document released by the White House curious.
Such phone calls also typically create at least two types of documents: a verbatim transcript made by note-takers in the White House Situation Room and an edited summary that is more widely circulated.
“The one that was released is not the one the Situation Room created,” said one person familiar with the creation of records of calls with foreign leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the secretive process. “That’s just not possible.”
One one hand, I can simply believe they were incompetent note-takers. On the other hand, I can also believe they are corrupt idiots and there is a more detailed transcript that is somehow more damning.
The memorandum is doctored. That's why Trump thought it would exonerate him.
I stand by this prediction!
It's the Meuller Report summary, Part Deux: Treason Harder.
President Trump said Wednesday that his controversial July call with his Ukrainian counterpart was transcribed “word-for-word, comma-for-comma,” an assertion that fueled growing questions about the nature and completeness of an official memorandum about the call released by the White House last week.
“This is an exact word-for-word transcript of the conversation, taken by very talented stenographers,” Trump said.
White House officials previously had portrayed the document as not a verbatim transcription but rather a summary that closely tracked the words the president used in his July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. They said it was being released in a bid to bring transparency and clarity to a call at the heart of a consuming political scandal that has sparked a House impeachment investigation.
Current and former U.S. officials studying the document pointed to several elements that, they say, indicate that the document may have been handled in an unusual way.
Those include the use of ellipses — punctuation indicating that information has been deleted for clarity or other reasons — that traditionally have not appeared in summaries of presidential calls with foreign leaders, according to the current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the elaborate, non-public process.
The White House declined to comment Wednesday about the unusual markings or other apparent discrepancies. Shortly after the document’s release last week, a White House official had said that the ellipses did not indicate missing words but referred to “a trailing off of a voice or pause,” and called it standard practice for records of presidential phone calls.
Current and former officials said that would be slightly different from previous practice. They said when presidents simply trail off in a way that note-takers can’t hear, that point traditionally has been marked “[inaudible]." When fragments of sentences aren’t readily understood by note-takers, or when comments repeat a previous thought, they said, the transcripts had often been marked with dashes.
The record of the presidential call with Zelensky, which is labeled “MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION,” was marked as having been produced by note-takers in the White House Situation Room, as is standard for calls with foreign leaders. The record, however, is unusual for lacking a tracking number that would normally indicate it had been circulated to senior subject experts and the national security adviser’s office for review and edits. Instead of a “package” number, the memo released by the White House carries a stamp saying: “PkgNumberShort.”
The document additionally carries classification markings that Situation Room staffers do not normally add when they create a word-for-word transcript, current and former officials said.
“I thought to myself, ‘This didn’t go through the normal process,’ ” said one former government official who was among several who handled these records and found the document released by the White House curious.
Such phone calls also typically create at least two types of documents: a verbatim transcript made by note-takers in the White House Situation Room and an edited summary that is more widely circulated.
“The one that was released is not the one the Situation Room created,” said one person familiar with the creation of records of calls with foreign leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the secretive process. “That’s just not possible.”
One one hand, I can simply believe they were incompetent note-takers. On the other hand, I can also believe they are corrupt idiots and there is a more detailed transcript that is somehow more damning.
The memorandum is doctored. That's why Trump thought it would exonerate him.
I stand by this prediction!
Reporting and the complaint says Ukraine didn't begin to worry the aid had been blocked until weeks later, so I remain on the memo-is-accurate side of the fence. His repeated use of "perfect" comes off like his inner braggart wanting to make clear that there was a very specific goal for that call; one he didn't fuck up by mentioning withholding the aid.
Because, otherwise, why didn't he mention he was withholding the aid? Seems like a thing you'd want to hash out on the record, unless you knew that negotiation wasn't going to be exactly above board.
But don't we have an official time line of when Congress approved the funds, Trump suddenly withholding the funds for two months for *reasons*, then him making the call to Zelensky, and finally the funds no longer withheld after said reasons?
The Ukraine side may not necessarily know the exact timeline of funds approval and actual release and didn't worry until after the fact that they were withheld in the first place was brought to light with the WB making his IG report.
President Trump said Wednesday that his controversial July call with his Ukrainian counterpart was transcribed “word-for-word, comma-for-comma,” an assertion that fueled growing questions about the nature and completeness of an official memorandum about the call released by the White House last week.
“This is an exact word-for-word transcript of the conversation, taken by very talented stenographers,” Trump said.
White House officials previously had portrayed the document as not a verbatim transcription but rather a summary that closely tracked the words the president used in his July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. They said it was being released in a bid to bring transparency and clarity to a call at the heart of a consuming political scandal that has sparked a House impeachment investigation.
Current and former U.S. officials studying the document pointed to several elements that, they say, indicate that the document may have been handled in an unusual way.
Those include the use of ellipses — punctuation indicating that information has been deleted for clarity or other reasons — that traditionally have not appeared in summaries of presidential calls with foreign leaders, according to the current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the elaborate, non-public process.
The White House declined to comment Wednesday about the unusual markings or other apparent discrepancies. Shortly after the document’s release last week, a White House official had said that the ellipses did not indicate missing words but referred to “a trailing off of a voice or pause,” and called it standard practice for records of presidential phone calls.
Current and former officials said that would be slightly different from previous practice. They said when presidents simply trail off in a way that note-takers can’t hear, that point traditionally has been marked “[inaudible]." When fragments of sentences aren’t readily understood by note-takers, or when comments repeat a previous thought, they said, the transcripts had often been marked with dashes.
The record of the presidential call with Zelensky, which is labeled “MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION,” was marked as having been produced by note-takers in the White House Situation Room, as is standard for calls with foreign leaders. The record, however, is unusual for lacking a tracking number that would normally indicate it had been circulated to senior subject experts and the national security adviser’s office for review and edits. Instead of a “package” number, the memo released by the White House carries a stamp saying: “PkgNumberShort.”
The document additionally carries classification markings that Situation Room staffers do not normally add when they create a word-for-word transcript, current and former officials said.
“I thought to myself, ‘This didn’t go through the normal process,’ ” said one former government official who was among several who handled these records and found the document released by the White House curious.
Such phone calls also typically create at least two types of documents: a verbatim transcript made by note-takers in the White House Situation Room and an edited summary that is more widely circulated.
“The one that was released is not the one the Situation Room created,” said one person familiar with the creation of records of calls with foreign leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the secretive process. “That’s just not possible.”
One one hand, I can simply believe they were incompetent note-takers. On the other hand, I can also believe they are corrupt idiots and there is a more detailed transcript that is somehow more damning.
The memorandum is doctored. That's why Trump thought it would exonerate him.
I stand by this prediction!
I agree. It would be weird from the Trump admin to lie so consistently about everything except this
And here is another report that the State Department IG wants to inform about Pompeos attempts to retaliate against anyone who cooperated with Congress.
Carl Quintanilla of CNBC/NBC News: * U.S. State Department Inspector General plans to brief congressional committees on recent instances of potential political retaliation by agency leadership against career officials over Ukraine -- two sources familiar with matter
Sounds like the career govt employees have finally gotten sick of being treated so badly. So now we've got at least some of the rank and file of both the State Department and the Intelligence community working against the White House. Amazing.
They also likely feel that they will have actual protections if they come forward now, to an impeachment inquiry. Before it might have been a lot more iffy. Not that there won't be retaliation, but they'll have a much better case for wrongful termination.
Part of me is wondering what took so long.
The other half of my brain keeps reminding me that these positions are full of people who work for whatever leadership is elected, and therefore are generally pretty non-political/non-partisan. For them to finally be fed up is a pretty big deal.
I mean, bureaucrats are pretty damn political. Just not on the clock. Because they are also professional.
But yeah, are you willing to give up your job, and health insurance, and likely any prospect of working for the Federal Government ever again? Which, bear in mind, these mid-level employees have specialist skills that are... basically focused on federal government work. Especially at State, since Virginia doesn't have foreign policy, but at least it does have a DOT. They can't just walk into any firm on K street and get a corner office. Being a whistleblower will likely fuck up their life for a long time, at best. It's a lot to ask. Especially when all the crimes seemed to keep landing with a big wet this and little more.
On the contrary - status as a whistleblower protects a career employee's status and job security, to an even greater degree than the substantial security career employees have already.
Depending on the situation and how the employee takes advantage of it, this can be... abused. In a previous life I was acquainted with one such individual who had been tucked away in his own office as a GS-15 with virtually no day-to-day job responsibilities whatsoever. He worked well into his 80's and spent the majority of his time walking around the office with a cup of coffee and chatting people up.
In a sane world, sure.
NPR had two publicly known whistleblowers on the other day. One was an air Marshall a couple if years after 9/11 who realized they are not putting a Marshall on every flight because management have themselves cash bonuses and raises out of money. The other was a VA guy who blew the whistle on suicidal veterans receiving improper care and bring left alone and then committing suicide.
Both were put through the wringer and are at this point broke.
And here is another report that the State Department IG wants to inform about Pompeos attempts to retaliate against anyone who cooperated with Congress.
Carl Quintanilla of CNBC/NBC News: * U.S. State Department Inspector General plans to brief congressional committees on recent instances of potential political retaliation by agency leadership against career officials over Ukraine -- two sources familiar with matter
Sounds like the career govt employees have finally gotten sick of being treated so badly. So now we've got at least some of the rank and file of both the State Department and the Intelligence community working against the White House. Amazing.
They also likely feel that they will have actual protections if they come forward now, to an impeachment inquiry. Before it might have been a lot more iffy. Not that there won't be retaliation, but they'll have a much better case for wrongful termination.
Part of me is wondering what took so long.
The other half of my brain keeps reminding me that these positions are full of people who work for whatever leadership is elected, and therefore are generally pretty non-political/non-partisan. For them to finally be fed up is a pretty big deal.
I mean, bureaucrats are pretty damn political. Just not on the clock. Because they are also professional.
But yeah, are you willing to give up your job, and health insurance, and likely any prospect of working for the Federal Government ever again? Which, bear in mind, these mid-level employees have specialist skills that are... basically focused on federal government work. Especially at State, since Virginia doesn't have foreign policy, but at least it does have a DOT. They can't just walk into any firm on K street and get a corner office. Being a whistleblower will likely fuck up their life for a long time, at best. It's a lot to ask. Especially when all the crimes seemed to keep landing with a big wet this and little more.
On the contrary - status as a whistleblower protects a career employee's status and job security, to an even greater degree than the substantial security career employees have already.
Depending on the situation and how the employee takes advantage of it, this can be... abused. In a previous life I was acquainted with one such individual who had been tucked away in his own office as a GS-15 with virtually no day-to-day job responsibilities whatsoever. He worked well into his 80's and spent the majority of his time walking around the office with a cup of coffee and chatting people up.
In a sane world, sure.
NPR had two publicly known whistleblowers on the other day. One was an air Marshall a couple if years after 9/11 who realized they are not putting a Marshall on every flight because management have themselves cash bonuses and raises out of money. The other was a VA guy who blew the whistle on suicidal veterans receiving improper care and bring left alone and then committing suicide.
Both were put through the wringer and are at this point broke.
That is depressing. Given how high profile this case is, I'm hoping the WB(s) here will be better protected.
President Trump said Wednesday that his controversial July call with his Ukrainian counterpart was transcribed “word-for-word, comma-for-comma,” an assertion that fueled growing questions about the nature and completeness of an official memorandum about the call released by the White House last week.
“This is an exact word-for-word transcript of the conversation, taken by very talented stenographers,” Trump said.
White House officials previously had portrayed the document as not a verbatim transcription but rather a summary that closely tracked the words the president used in his July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. They said it was being released in a bid to bring transparency and clarity to a call at the heart of a consuming political scandal that has sparked a House impeachment investigation.
Current and former U.S. officials studying the document pointed to several elements that, they say, indicate that the document may have been handled in an unusual way.
Those include the use of ellipses — punctuation indicating that information has been deleted for clarity or other reasons — that traditionally have not appeared in summaries of presidential calls with foreign leaders, according to the current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the elaborate, non-public process.
The White House declined to comment Wednesday about the unusual markings or other apparent discrepancies. Shortly after the document’s release last week, a White House official had said that the ellipses did not indicate missing words but referred to “a trailing off of a voice or pause,” and called it standard practice for records of presidential phone calls.
Current and former officials said that would be slightly different from previous practice. They said when presidents simply trail off in a way that note-takers can’t hear, that point traditionally has been marked “[inaudible]." When fragments of sentences aren’t readily understood by note-takers, or when comments repeat a previous thought, they said, the transcripts had often been marked with dashes.
The record of the presidential call with Zelensky, which is labeled “MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION,” was marked as having been produced by note-takers in the White House Situation Room, as is standard for calls with foreign leaders. The record, however, is unusual for lacking a tracking number that would normally indicate it had been circulated to senior subject experts and the national security adviser’s office for review and edits. Instead of a “package” number, the memo released by the White House carries a stamp saying: “PkgNumberShort.”
The document additionally carries classification markings that Situation Room staffers do not normally add when they create a word-for-word transcript, current and former officials said.
“I thought to myself, ‘This didn’t go through the normal process,’ ” said one former government official who was among several who handled these records and found the document released by the White House curious.
Such phone calls also typically create at least two types of documents: a verbatim transcript made by note-takers in the White House Situation Room and an edited summary that is more widely circulated.
“The one that was released is not the one the Situation Room created,” said one person familiar with the creation of records of calls with foreign leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the secretive process. “That’s just not possible.”
One one hand, I can simply believe they were incompetent note-takers. On the other hand, I can also believe they are corrupt idiots and there is a more detailed transcript that is somehow more damning.
The memorandum is doctored. That's why Trump thought it would exonerate him.
I stand by this prediction!
It's the Meuller Report summary, Part Deux: Treason Harder.
President Trump said Wednesday that his controversial July call with his Ukrainian counterpart was transcribed “word-for-word, comma-for-comma,” an assertion that fueled growing questions about the nature and completeness of an official memorandum about the call released by the White House last week.
“This is an exact word-for-word transcript of the conversation, taken by very talented stenographers,” Trump said.
White House officials previously had portrayed the document as not a verbatim transcription but rather a summary that closely tracked the words the president used in his July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. They said it was being released in a bid to bring transparency and clarity to a call at the heart of a consuming political scandal that has sparked a House impeachment investigation.
Current and former U.S. officials studying the document pointed to several elements that, they say, indicate that the document may have been handled in an unusual way.
Those include the use of ellipses — punctuation indicating that information has been deleted for clarity or other reasons — that traditionally have not appeared in summaries of presidential calls with foreign leaders, according to the current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the elaborate, non-public process.
The White House declined to comment Wednesday about the unusual markings or other apparent discrepancies. Shortly after the document’s release last week, a White House official had said that the ellipses did not indicate missing words but referred to “a trailing off of a voice or pause,” and called it standard practice for records of presidential phone calls.
Current and former officials said that would be slightly different from previous practice. They said when presidents simply trail off in a way that note-takers can’t hear, that point traditionally has been marked “[inaudible]." When fragments of sentences aren’t readily understood by note-takers, or when comments repeat a previous thought, they said, the transcripts had often been marked with dashes.
The record of the presidential call with Zelensky, which is labeled “MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION,” was marked as having been produced by note-takers in the White House Situation Room, as is standard for calls with foreign leaders. The record, however, is unusual for lacking a tracking number that would normally indicate it had been circulated to senior subject experts and the national security adviser’s office for review and edits. Instead of a “package” number, the memo released by the White House carries a stamp saying: “PkgNumberShort.”
The document additionally carries classification markings that Situation Room staffers do not normally add when they create a word-for-word transcript, current and former officials said.
“I thought to myself, ‘This didn’t go through the normal process,’ ” said one former government official who was among several who handled these records and found the document released by the White House curious.
Such phone calls also typically create at least two types of documents: a verbatim transcript made by note-takers in the White House Situation Room and an edited summary that is more widely circulated.
“The one that was released is not the one the Situation Room created,” said one person familiar with the creation of records of calls with foreign leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the secretive process. “That’s just not possible.”
One one hand, I can simply believe they were incompetent note-takers. On the other hand, I can also believe they are corrupt idiots and there is a more detailed transcript that is somehow more damning.
The memorandum is doctored. That's why Trump thought it would exonerate him.
I stand by this prediction!
Reporting and the complaint says Ukraine didn't begin to worry the aid had been blocked until weeks later, so I remain on the memo-is-accurate side of the fence. His repeated use of "perfect" comes off like his inner braggart wanting to make clear that there was a very specific goal for that call; one he didn't fuck up by mentioning withholding the aid.
Because, otherwise, why didn't he mention he was withholding the aid? Seems like a thing you'd want to hash out on the record, unless you knew that negotiation wasn't going to be exactly above board.
But don't we have an official time line of when Congress approved the funds, Trump suddenly withholding the funds for two months for *reasons*, then him making the call to Zelensky, and finally the funds no longer withheld after said reasons?
The Ukraine side may not necessarily know the exact timeline of funds approval and actual release and didn't worry until after the fact that they were withheld in the first place was brought to light with the WB making his IG report.
Funds were approved in February/March IIRC.
Per the OP timeline:
May 23: The administration notifies Congress that it intends to release aid money to Ukraine.
July 18: Trump’s decision to withhold nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine is communicated to the State and Defense departments. Members of Congress are told that the hold is part of an “interagency delay.”
July 19: Ambassador Volker texts Giuliani to connect him to a Zelensky aide named Andrey Yermak.
July 23. OMB reiterates that aid to Ukraine is suspended, per Trump.
July 25: Trump and Zelensky speak on the phone. Zelensky, having studied, bows, scrapes, and commiserates with Trump before mentioning javelins. Trump deflects to a favor, never acknowledging the subject of aid.
July 26: Volker and Sondland traveled to Kiev and met with Zelensky and other politicians. There, the whistleblower writes, they “reportedly provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to ‘navigate’ the demands that the President had made of” Zelensky.
July 28: Coats resigns (August 15).
July 31: Trump holds a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The call is first reported by the Russians; the White House doesn’t confirm it until late that evening. The Russians, in a much more substantial readout than the United States, claim Trump and Putin spoke about restoring full relations one day.
Sept. 1: Zelensky and Vice President Pence meet
Sept. 2: Pence says he didn’t discuss Biden with Zelensky, but that he did suggest that aid was contingent on rooting out corruption.
Sept 5: Sen Johnson and Murphy meet w/ Zelensky in Kiev. Murphy would later provide an account "As soon as we sat down at the table in the presidential palace, he asked us what was going on with the aid, why was it being withheld.
...
Zelensky personally was really worried about these overtures he was getting in particular from Rudy Giuliani. And he didn't understand whether this was an official government position"
If they edited that phone call to remove an explicit quid pro quo, Zelensky wouldn't still be confused if he had to give Rudy dirt a month later, and I would think they'd be terrified of him using that provable omission for leverage now. The man sitting next to Trump in that joint press conference did not appear to be a man with an ace up his sleeve or a dead-man switch.
That might depend on what he actually did to get the aid released.
If he has a dead-man's switch that would definitely end his political career, and possibly hurt Trump's but maybe he'd get away with it like with everything else... maybe that's not a great position you want to leverage.
Particularly when choosing wrong maybe gets your country fully occupied, and you personally assassinated.
So as of this morning the Nickleback tweet no longer has the video attached because Nickleback made a copy right claim on it.
Damn right!
“50 million albums worldwide. 11th best-selling musical act of all time. Billboard’s most successful rock group of the last decade. Six Grammy nominations. 12 Juno Awards — those count. Six Billboard Music Awards. Two American Music Awards. One People’s Choice Award (Canadian). And a partridge in a f*****g pear tree." - Poet Laureate and kidnapper of former child actors, Wade Wilson.
Honestly, not really a fan (but don't hate), but that trailer was so awesome, I'll remember it every time their name is mentioned.
Southpaw is a writer and lawyer who keeps up to speed with this whole shebang.
Lindsey tried to whiningly peddle his conspiracy theory to the Australian government and accused an Australian diplomat of being directed to talk to George Papadopoulos.
Southpaw is a writer and lawyer who keeps up to speed with this whole shebang.
Lindsey tried to whiningly peddle his conspiracy theory to the Australian government and accused an Australian diplomat of being directed to talk to George Papadopoulos.
Southpaw is a writer and lawyer who keeps up to speed with this whole shebang.
Lindsey tried to whiningly peddle his conspiracy theory to the Australian government and accused an Australian diplomat of being directed to talk to George Papadopoulos.
I feel like something just flipped and now the whole thing is unraveling. Like, not in a hopeful way, but just mass chaos.
I feel like something flipped and it's starting to get too big to be taken down.
I'm not sure how effective whistleblowers can possibly when it seems that if you have an R next to your name you are more than likely guilty of at least one crime.
I feel like something just flipped and now the whole thing is unraveling. Like, not in a hopeful way, but just mass chaos.
I feel like something flipped and it's starting to get too big to be taken down.
I'm not sure how effective whistleblowers can possibly when it seems that if you have an R next to your name you are more than likely guilty of at least one crime.
Trump's strategy was always going to be quadrupling down and "So, what are you going to do about it?". Which is a fair question.
+2
Options
EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
Next we'll learn that Kavanaugh was pressuring South Korea or some bullshit.
Posts
"Ex-Ukraine prosecutor said he was told to back off probe of Biden-linked firm, files show"
And yes, "files" credulously refers to Rudy's notes in that big envelope of bullshit. And no, the article never so much as hints that anyone other than those salty Dems questioned the veracity of its various claims.
I'm so ready for Fox and its viewers to finally pierce the veil, get trapped into the alternate reality they're describing, and be replaced with their 'evil' twins who are actually pretty alright.
Edit: Well this is a shitty ToTP
So here's an article from Bizzaro-Fox that mentions the packet the IG brought included State department emails pushing back on Rudy's nonsense.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/10/02/politics/state-department-inspector-general-briefing-congress/index.html
Also, good to see this is finally catching up with Pence maybe. Pence is pretty dumb, but he knew exactly what was up when he was going to Ukraine. Also I realized today reading about Trump's cussing on twitter that if he's dumb enough to violate terms and they kill his account, his only defense tool is gone. He's already violated terms plenty and they'll never ban his account, but a man can dream....
Looking through Trump's tweets of his campaign ads, Im starting to feel real nervous with the language he uses
The dude ain't leaving that office peacefully
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/10/03/odd-markings-ellipses-fuel-doubts-about-rough-transcript-trumps-ukraine-call/ One one hand, I can simply believe they were incompetent note-takers. On the other hand, I can also believe they are corrupt idiots and there is a more detailed transcript that is somehow more damning.
I was coming in to post how the trump children were being quiet, then i see this.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
They think they can stop sinking by bailing all the water into the boat. Can't sink into the sea if the sea is empty!
Meanwhile, the impeachment is also now a campaign add, now with a bunch of quotes from Democrats defending Bill:
Or Stacey Abrams.
The memorandum is doctored. That's why Trump thought it would exonerate him.
I stand by this prediction!
What could there possibly be in a call which is worse than what is there? Does the Ukrainian guy say, "Hang on Trump, that seems a bit treasony" and Trump responds, "Treason, I'm a bought and paid for Russian spy"?
Considering the talking points, I am assuming an outright quid quo pro
Reporting and the complaint says Ukraine didn't begin to worry the aid had been blocked until weeks later, so I remain on the memo-is-accurate side of the fence. His repeated use of "perfect" comes off like his inner braggart wanting to make clear that there was a very specific goal for that call; one he didn't fuck up by mentioning withholding the aid.
Because, otherwise, why didn't he mention he was withholding the aid? Seems like a thing you'd want to hash out on the record, unless you knew that negotiation wasn't going to be exactly above board.
It's the Meuller Report summary, Part Deux: Treason Harder.
Trump is flailing to control the narrative.
But don't we have an official time line of when Congress approved the funds, Trump suddenly withholding the funds for two months for *reasons*, then him making the call to Zelensky, and finally the funds no longer withheld after said reasons?
The Ukraine side may not necessarily know the exact timeline of funds approval and actual release and didn't worry until after the fact that they were withheld in the first place was brought to light with the WB making his IG report.
I agree. It would be weird from the Trump admin to lie so consistently about everything except this
NPR had two publicly known whistleblowers on the other day. One was an air Marshall a couple if years after 9/11 who realized they are not putting a Marshall on every flight because management have themselves cash bonuses and raises out of money. The other was a VA guy who blew the whistle on suicidal veterans receiving improper care and bring left alone and then committing suicide.
Both were put through the wringer and are at this point broke.
That is depressing. Given how high profile this case is, I'm hoping the WB(s) here will be better protected.
Funds were approved in February/March IIRC.
Per the OP timeline:
May 23: The administration notifies Congress that it intends to release aid money to Ukraine.
July 18: Trump’s decision to withhold nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine is communicated to the State and Defense departments. Members of Congress are told that the hold is part of an “interagency delay.”
July 19: Ambassador Volker texts Giuliani to connect him to a Zelensky aide named Andrey Yermak.
July 23. OMB reiterates that aid to Ukraine is suspended, per Trump.
July 25: Trump and Zelensky speak on the phone. Zelensky, having studied, bows, scrapes, and commiserates with Trump before mentioning javelins. Trump deflects to a favor, never acknowledging the subject of aid.
July 26: Volker and Sondland traveled to Kiev and met with Zelensky and other politicians. There, the whistleblower writes, they “reportedly provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to ‘navigate’ the demands that the President had made of” Zelensky.
July 28: Coats resigns (August 15).
July 31: Trump holds a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The call is first reported by the Russians; the White House doesn’t confirm it until late that evening. The Russians, in a much more substantial readout than the United States, claim Trump and Putin spoke about restoring full relations one day.
Sept. 1: Zelensky and Vice President Pence meet
Sept. 2: Pence says he didn’t discuss Biden with Zelensky, but that he did suggest that aid was contingent on rooting out corruption.
Sept 5: Sen Johnson and Murphy meet w/ Zelensky in Kiev. Murphy would later provide an account "As soon as we sat down at the table in the presidential palace, he asked us what was going on with the aid, why was it being withheld.
...
Zelensky personally was really worried about these overtures he was getting in particular from Rudy Giuliani. And he didn't understand whether this was an official government position"
(Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-september-22-2019-n1057416)
If they edited that phone call to remove an explicit quid pro quo, Zelensky wouldn't still be confused if he had to give Rudy dirt a month later, and I would think they'd be terrified of him using that provable omission for leverage now. The man sitting next to Trump in that joint press conference did not appear to be a man with an ace up his sleeve or a dead-man switch.
If he has a dead-man's switch that would definitely end his political career, and possibly hurt Trump's but maybe he'd get away with it like with everything else... maybe that's not a great position you want to leverage.
Particularly when choosing wrong maybe gets your country fully occupied, and you personally assassinated.
I didn't see the video
was their audio attached? That's hilarious if so
It was.
I have never had as much respect for Nickelback as I do now
Damn right!
“50 million albums worldwide. 11th best-selling musical act of all time. Billboard’s most successful rock group of the last decade. Six Grammy nominations. 12 Juno Awards — those count. Six Billboard Music Awards. Two American Music Awards. One People’s Choice Award (Canadian). And a partridge in a f*****g pear tree." - Poet Laureate and kidnapper of former child actors, Wade Wilson.
Don't give them ideas.
Lindsey Graham, who I assume must have something worse than "Live boy/dead girl" in the closet at this point, was of course involved.
Southpaw is a writer and lawyer who keeps up to speed with this whole shebang.
Lindsey tried to whiningly peddle his conspiracy theory to the Australian government and accused an Australian diplomat of being directed to talk to George Papadopoulos.
Australia is having none of it however.
It took me a solid minute to think of something that I was sure would be interpreted as a joke and not news.
Pretty soon it'll be the entire Republican party.
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
Nuclear proliferation is Trump's jam.
You'd be surprised how often it looks like the last straw is unforeseeable and then it was obvious in hindsight.
Eh, I bet Mitch knows better than to actually do any of this shit himself.
I feel like something flipped and it's starting to get too big to be taken down.
I'm not sure how effective whistleblowers can possibly when it seems that if you have an R next to your name you are more than likely guilty of at least one crime.
Trump's strategy was always going to be quadrupling down and "So, what are you going to do about it?". Which is a fair question.