I just spent far too much time writing up a facebook post to try and provide a sort of high-level, citation-filled rundown of The Ukraine Call since I haven't seen anything laying it out in a simple manner so I figured I'd post it here, too.
The Misuse of Presidential Power to Solicit Foreign Interference in Our Election
“In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. Government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President's main domestic political rivals.” 1
The money: the US was planning to send several hundred million dollars to Ukraine to help them purchase military hardware.
This aid package (announced in June of 2019) was contingent on Ukraine’s efforts to combat corruption, and the Pentagon sent a letter to Congress in which they "certified that the Government of Ukraine has taken substantial actions to make defense institutional reforms for the purposes of decreasing corruption [and] increasing accountability." 2
The setup: in June, the White House suddenly blocked the aid package without explanation.
In July, “Administration officials were instructed to tell lawmakers that the delays were part of an “interagency process” but to give them no additional information — a pattern that continued for nearly two months, until the White House released the funds on the night of Sept. 11.” 3
The shakedown: this was followed by a phone call in July between Trump and the Ukrainian President in which the Ukrainian President brought up wanting to purchase military hardware and Trump’s response was to ask for some “favors.”
From the official “reconstructed transcript” created from notes on the phone call, we can see that Trump’s response to the Ukrainian President’s comment about the financial aid they are expecting to receive is to request some investigations:
“President Zelenskyy: We are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes.
The President: I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike… I guess you have one of your wealthy people... The server, they say Ukraine has it.
[here the Ukrainian President, Zelenskyy, assures Trump that they are “great friends” and that “all the investigations will be done openly and candidly”]
The President: The other thing, There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great.” 4
The crime: the use of the US government’s money to pressure a foreign government into manufacturing an investigation to hurt a political rival in the upcoming election is an abuse of power.
Even setting aside the use of the US government’s resources to extort assistance, “It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election.” 5
The cover-up: realizing the seriousness of what just happened, the White House attempted to hide the transcript of the phone call on a server used for classified national security info.
“White House lawyers directed White House officials to remove the electronic transcript of the Zelensky call from the computer system where such transcripts normally are stored. That transcript then was loaded into a “separate electronic system” that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. “One White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective.”” 6
The whistleblower elaborates on what that server is usually for: “According to multiple White House officials I spoke with, the transcript of the President's call with President Zelenskyy was placed into a computer system managed directly by the National Security Council (NSC) Directorate for Intelligence Programs. This is a standalone computer system reserved for codeword-level intelligence information, such as covert action.” 1
The conclusion:
“I am deeply concerned that the actions described below constitute “a serious or flagrant problem, abuse, or violation of law or Executive Order” [...] I am also concerned that these actions pose risks to U.S. national security and undermine the U.S. Government's efforts to deter and counter foreign interference in U.S. elections.” 1
Sources:
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/read-the-whistleblower-complaint-regarding-president-trump-s-communications-with-ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky/4b9e0ca5-3824-467f-b1a3-77f2d4ee16aa/?fbclid=IwAR0oj1nxRlu_PNQmeakdyEb-WwWgrLKXWPtyBUCTPDGcYab1f7WYdjRwocc
- https://www.npr.org/2019/09/25/764453663/pentagon-letter-undercuts-trump-assertion-on-delaying-aid-to-ukraine-over-corrup?fbclid=IwAR2MxuFi7LICAqM9rj7G6RaE2l_JFZ_dF3HiWoTT1W4l1j05CF3ZILIKWA4
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-ordered-hold-on-military-aid-days-before-calling-ukrainian-president-officials-say/2019/09/23/df93a6ca-de38-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html?fbclid=IwAR1QyVOTWyGYcMqN_ojzqUsGXPZeVUJ-dYefgbE8GS2hjdzyLK-iAy78ToY
- https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2tLXsD_2tSOnqMvNpXvIoFevBjuqCCGnQjO4r224923u54fwO9V_RyeCA
- https://mobile.twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1139309394968096768?fbclid=IwAR3Q1xwX-qk6TbgJan_dj4d15B_RmHlzh2YEPxEpKQLfXHfPjWvU5hLvwpk
- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/biggest-bombshells-in-trump-whistleblower-complaint-cover-up.html?fbclid=IwAR1Axs0UcMTe9Ul9yeEcPddGY1DoOW-gSb5afE_sns9L8--QxWs1qq8oRxM
Posts
A good primer on why the Founding Fathers were so worried about foreign interference in elections: https://www.npr.org/2019/06/14/732571895/fear-of-foreign-interference-in-u-s-elections-dates-from-nations-founding?fbclid=IwAR3hOQQkP5s6_S76TorzfM1xN6I39RzbBMwVxWKbjDKmGz6WQ3vZwpbWzx8
Also, the specific statute violated is 18 U.S.C. 371, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, in which any substantial step (like a phone call) is sufficient.
This isn't actually bribery or extortion; it's the misuse of funds appropriated by Congress for Trump's personal benefit.
For the impeachment thread.
And also for impeaching the most blatantly criminal President in US history to I suppose.
who?
aside from the IG, the rest are trump cronies or the president of Ukraine
And there were some really bad ones!
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Everyone else eavesdropping on the call.
I dunno man, I feel like you're writing off Andrew Jackson a little too quickly there. Actual no fucking bullshit genocide is hard to top.
Anyway.
Good luck America. Let's get this done.
His own base will tear him to shreds if it helps validate them.
But they were all on the call and didn’t file a whistleblower notice, i’m unsure they would speak up if Barr tried anything shady.
Politico reporter.
Gardner basically trying to thread the needle between "this is a serious matter that deserves to be investigated" and "I am not rushing to judgment even though Trump admitted it." And failing.
As we've seen at all levels of this campaign, leaks get leaked.
When you surround yourself with self-centered sociopaths, those people will do anything for self promotion.
Also whoever reported to the IG, the Ukrainian staff, and so on. Barr had complete control of the Mueller narrative. He doesn't have as much control here.
Wild to think it took three goddamn years.
It felt like twenty.
It's a very melancholic type of feeling, slight vindication with a side of disbelief and skepticism
They will define the scope of the investigation.
If that's true then there'll be no impeachment.
...
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The rumor is that she's asking the six committee chairs who have been investigating things to give their best cases for why he should be impeached. So there will be a lot of Articles of Impeachment and we'll see what can pass through the Select Committee that we think will exist.
Trump playing games with Ukraine is something the Kremlin would fucking love, and Trump either knows that or maybe was specifically asked to do so by Putin
What you are hearing is not the roar of the finish line, it's the firing of the starting gun.
1. It won’t stop Barr from issuing another bullshit summary and the summary will probably be first.
2. You have to verify a leaked transcript and before that happens, it will be slandered until you’re are spending more time defending the source of the leak than the contents.
Even if it doesn’t work, I see zero reason to believe Trump and Barr will not try to obfuscate as much as possible.
Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
Well, there's also a difference between the read-out they're flouting and what the actual whistleblower report says. It could be a huge difference, but it ultimately comes down to which story catches headlines first. Republicans are desperately trying to squeeze out of this and will take anything they can get. I'm worried that if this gets defused that whistleblower could end up in big trouble.
Relevant tweets from an NBC analys/NatSec cog
I'd predict it to start over from scratch for two big reasons:
A. Mitch McConnell can effectively stonewall this in the senate, and if by some miracle it gets dragged kicking and screaming to a vote there, it won't pass.
B. 2020. The next year will be a sequential retelling of the entire story, one sin at a time, to keep them in the news for the entire election season. They'll likely time it to come back around to this last one around mid-October next year for just that reason.
Then the election is a battle to render the whole thing moot, or to retake the senate so the next step can begin.
There's too many to fucking list.
Mitch McConnell doesn't preside over Impeachment proceedings in the Senate.
John Roberts does.
- The Ukraine call is a con by republican insiders. They could sense that impeachment talk was starting to turn from impossible to possible. So rather than let it bubble up naturally and be filled with legitimate complaints, they figure, manufacture a huge controversy, something that will dominate all of the attention around the whole event. Then, when all of the impeachment proceedings focus on the manufactured controversy as a central portion of the narrative, the other legitimate issues get pushed aside. So when you ride in with an anti-smoking gun that completely clears trump (of the controversy) you can make the impeachment narrative focus on how Trump was cleared (conveniently forgetting all the other legitimate complaints).
But I am going to try.
With hope, and help (hint, motherfucking hint), I'm going to try and keep the OP up to date, bullet pointed, and filled with links/ sources to help in the social media wars to come
Let me explain. No, there is to much, let me sum up.
The impeachment thread has arrived. I must now diminish, and go in to the West.