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
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Actually I'm now pondering what kind of news we'll get in these next two weeks if they're like the last two weeks.
I think it’s possible things might get pretty wild if there truly are multiple whistleblowers now, especially if they are blowing the whistle on new and exciting crimes and not just adding the what we already know about Ukraine.
The newest one didn't provide any new information but did provide first hand account confirming the first officer's claims. Which should put to bed any claims that it's all unverified second hand info.
Should.
Second hand info that the President himself confirmed as perfect factual after releasing a memo summarizing the actual transcript of the call.
Law and Order ≠ Justice
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This honestly caught me flat footed. Like, it isn't necessarily shocking or surprising, but if you had asked I never would have guessed it. And yet, it makes absolute and total sense
I guess we'll at least find out if the so called memo was accurate or maybe left out some super important bits.
As a general rule.
Every Time Trump accuses someones of doing something, it is only because the "something" is a thing that Donald Trump has done, is doing, or wants to do.
I'm pretty sure that, at least some of the time, it's all three.
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Trump has proven less interested in draining the swamp then he is in, well, becoming this:
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...what the hell has Trump been up to that we DON'T know about?
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I'm guessing...treason.
That would be hard, considering that the USA considers treason only as aiding a country that the US is at war with. Even if Trump was taking direct bribes from Putin, that would only be corruption, not treason, since we aren't at war with Russia.
Not quite. It only requires they be an enemy. War is a sufficient but not a necessary condition.
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It’s funny, in a pathetic sort of way, that now when he’s facing impeachment he starts saying that everyone who criticizes him should be impeached themselves.
It’s like he heard a new word and he knows it means something bad, but doesn’t understand what it means. So he just uses it as an attack for everything.
That probably exactly what it is.
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He also calls them his little jokey nicknames while accusing them of crimes punishable by death. He can't take his own impeachment defense seriously, he has to turn it into entertainment for his base.
I've noticed this about Trump. He behaves as if he's at a Trump rally 100% of the time, because that's probably the environment he's been in for most of his life. Everyone's excited to see him, laughing at his jokes, congratulating him for being so rich. He got in trouble for it when he visited the El Paso shooting victims and acted like it was a campaign event. It's exhausting to watch, it must be really painful to be around.
It's been making its way around twitter a bit this morning, but I'm curious about us pulling out of Syria with regards to Trump Tower Istanbul.
Everyone has leverage on this motherfucker because if his shitty ass hotels.
See also: Collusion, fake news, etc.
Yes and no. Turkey is a member of NATO. I wonder if that phone call landed on the codeword classified server. Because HIC is going to be going over that with a fine toothed comb now.
Trump has never developed past grade school. The fact his I am rubber you are glue scthick has worked as long as it has is embarrassing to adults everywhere.
Not really
Syria and Russia are allies
Turkey and Syria have a common cause of wiping out the Kurds
Edrogan is playing the West and Russia against each other from the safety of NATO membership, while selling audiences at home on the rise of a new Ottoman Empire. It's yet another slow-moving disaster that's starting to pick up speed.
I also see the asshat GOP trying to liken the whistle blowers coming forward to the Kavanaugh scandal, where they confirmed a rapist, by claiming that more people coming forward doesn't make it more reliable. They clearly do not get how the intelligence community works. That shit is documented for a variety of reasons. Still no word on if any of the new whistle blowers have knowledge of scandals outside of the one involving Ukraine.
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Nice chart to figure out how honest a news source is.
Isn't the US still technically at war with North Korea? Given his penchant for quid pro quo, and his cozy relationship with KJU, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something there.
But it's more likely he's at best using the more colloquial usage, and not the technically accurate one, and at worst, he's just parroting a word with no understanding of the context.
South Korea is still at war with North Korea. The US was never formally at war with Korea in the first place. It was a "policing action."
Purple district Congressmen turning doesn't really mean anything. It's GOP Senators that have the power to sink Trump.
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The Rosenbergs weren't even charged with treason, and they gave the Soviet Union the secrets to build nukes.
Pretty sure "at war" is, at the very least, the condition that has been agreed upon by every administration so far, and for good reason.
Perfectly normal thing to say.
Also, the GOP is claiming Trump asking China to look into Biden was "just a joke," so mark your free space on your bingo card.
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Except those guys also represent the kinds of states that have a partisan lean similar to where there are senators. As has been said, the GOP flip will not be slow. It'll be quick and sudden. If those two representatives start voicing they are in favor of impeachment, then you know that the republican senators in AZ, GA, FL, IA, NC & OH aren't too far behind. Another factor we really should consider here, is how things will look if we get a bipartisan vote in the house for impeachment and a majority of senators vote in favor of removal, but fall short of the 67 needed. It's not a good look and I'd wager that there are a number of republican senators that don't want their record being "shit bird that voted against Trump's removal despite a bipartisan house vote to remove and a majority of senators being in agreement." I'd say the threshold probably isn't going to be getting 66 or 67 saying they are in favor of removal. Rather, the moment we get 51+, the rest of the GOP senators will probably turn on Trump because that's an easier vote to defend over "I disagree with a majority of elected officials." Also I think people are writing some states off way too much as red country, Kansas elected a democrat for governor and Alabama gave us Doug Jones in the senate. There does appear to be a line with a majority of the public and senate seats can be gerrymandered into an unapproachable stronghold.
battletag: Millin#1360
Nice chart to figure out how honest a news source is.
Treason requires witnesses to an overt act for conviction, so the evidence might not even exist.
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