Beyond all his other failings as a president, Trump is a traitor.
187
Is that headline a trick question? Why won't the White House share that information? Did Al Capone willingly give his financials to the IRS or did John Gotti say "I killed the guy, what are you going to do about it". No. because they weren't as stupid as our President. It's exactly what Trump would do with his goldfish attention span and lack of self-control. "Get some dirt on Biden, let me make a call". I weep for the 35% of our country that worship him. You can't fix stupid but you can vote it out.
202
Can't the whistle blower meet a reporter in a garage???
127
The Romans said, “Vorpius de liporius octo.” Or, “It’s the coverup, not the crime.”
It’s actually both. It’s always both, with this sick, rotting “President.” The vast, twisted coverup is the “tell.” Same as it ever was.
113
After all the previous "urgent concern" that the NYTimes has flogged about Trump really did turn out to be fake news, why should we be alarmed about this time?
10
What's far more urgent is for ridiculous, unproven garbage like this to stop being the preoccupation of e-rumor blogs like this one.
Our President, like every other one throughout our history, has a right and an obligation to seek any assistance from any foreign leaders for any circumstance that further legitimizes and protects our republic.
Why burden readership with this eldercare bridge party gossip? Biden's family enriching schemes have been common knowledge for decades.
Try assigning real news reporters to the real story - the Watergate quality story - about the real criminals behind the attempted coup of our President?
No guts, no glory, NYT. Go for it.
9
Dear Family of The Dotard,
Don't you think it might be time to play the dementia card?
Thanks,
The American People (or at least me)
75
Clearly the founders of our great country tried as best they could to make sure there were checks and balances in the multiple branches of government in case of a corrupt individual/politician.
However what they could not have foreseen was a corrupt lying, racist, bigoted, fascist conman becoming president and to add insult to injury one of the remaining branches of government acting as his lapdog and unwilling to do their jobs of oversight.
89
We have a lawless Executive Branch of government.
This needs to end now.
66
That's enough! Impeach now!
55
I want to know who paid off Kavanaugh's gambling debts.
92
In fact someone maybe two people are dumb enough and it is depressing. Speaker Pelosi do you job uphold your oath of office and impeach this clown.
39
Yep, sure do think you’re dumb enough to say something to a foreign leader, to try any dirty trick to gain an advantage in the election. You’ve been doing it for 2-1/2 years in public sight. Lie after lie, & still can’t sell it.
Now you’re going to defend the country that provided 19 of the 911 highjackers, who took down the twin towers, & dismembered an American journalist! No Americans sacrificed for your aggression against Iran!
80
"I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters."
I could sit in the middle of the White House and openly commit crimes including treason and I wouldn't lose any Republican politicians.
126
Why is Ukraine so important to Trump and Putin? It's at the heart of Trump-Russia, as I note here https://realcontextnews.com/how-cohens-and-manaforts-ukraine-ties-tell-the-deeper-story-of-trump-russia-and-the-mueller-probe/ And as Giuliani embarrasses himself over Ukraine and Biden, a look at Rudy's own shady ties to Ukraine and the Russian mafia https://realcontextnews.com/rudy-giulianis-kislin-connection-raises-issues-for-his-role-as-trumps-russia-lawyer-exclusive-analysis/
27
“Is anyone dumb enough . . . ?” Mr. President, you are the dumb one here. All anyone has to do is go back through the record compiled through government reports, TV news, radio, newspapers, books, the Mueller report and video—remember the Russians in the Oval Office in 2017?—to see that it is almost probable that you did make an agreement with a foreign government. So, it is imperative that this information be submitted to Congress so that the matter can be properly investigated. Please submit this information today to Congress.
38
In answer to 45's tweet: Yes, we DO think you are "dumb enough" to say something inappropriate to a foreign leader! Every time you open your mouth or send out a tweet you're a prime example of dumb and dumber!
60
I seem to recall an open mike catching Obama cutting a secret deal with the Russians ... but oh yeah, silly me, that was Obama and the NYT didn't hate him.
7
Ok this is finally it ... impeach now!!!’
32
Funny how easily the narrative changes when you include tiny bits of missing information:
"Joe Biden succeeded in pressuring Ukraine to remove the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma Holdings, the company where Hunter Biden held a position on the board of directors."
"Joe Biden succeeded in pressuring Ukraine to remove the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma Holdings, the company where Hunter Biden held a position on the board of directors, because the prosecutor was stonewalling and refusing to seriously prosecute corruption cases including the specific case of Burisma Holdings in which he refused to cooperate with the U.K. regarding a British investigation into money laundering by Burisma Holding's owner."
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/corruption-ukraine-joe-biden-son-hunter-biden-ties.html
10
So Trump is being investigated because then VP Joe Biden threatened to withhold hundred of millions of $$$ in US aid to Ukraine unless they fired a prosecutor who was investigating a company that gave Biden's son a billion dollar deal?
7
Trump Country: aren't you tired?
24
This is what you get when you elect an amateur as President.
26
Maguire --> "shall" --> remand to jail until he complies.
19
Pure dribble from the Democrats and the Democrats that are in the agencies of the government--that is if those individuals actually exist but most likely this is yet another fabricated "source". Vote for America--Vote Republican.
6
Enough is enough, and more than enough.
IMPEACH
21
The lack of response in reigning in this president is another reason all Republicans should be voted out of office.
Their lack of response to this latest episode borders on treason.
40
The administration knows that publication of Trump's actions with the Ukrainian president would reveal impeachable crimes and certainly criminality of many sorts. They are desperate to save his lousy hide.
24
You're asking why. Because Trump is a criminal is why.
30
A Mr. Bukowski comment fits perfectly here.....
" The problem with the world is that the intelligent people
are full of doubts while the stupid ones are full of
confidence."
42
The situation continues to point at Mitch McConnell. He is the main person who is protecting Trump. Shameful, and shame on Kentucky for electing that clown.
44
This story is just another attempt by the NYT and other elite Trump Haters in the government to evict our sitting President from the White House. All prior efforts to do so have failed thus and this is just the latest convenient ploy to gin up the Democrat voters before the approaching 2020 race which, so far, contains one strong, well positioned incumbent and absolutely no opposition.
7
That's a lot of words for the NYT's Editorial Board when what they should have printed was simply:
The President is a traitor to his own country, has betrayed his oath of office to defend the country and our Constitution and is unfit for office. He should be impeached or otherwise removed from office as soon as possible before he does even more damage and endangers even more lives.
41
"Maybe there’s not that much to the complaint; we can’t know yet"
But hey, let's use this scenario to help the Dems!!
The NYT have lost any credibility they seemingly ever had.
6
Because the GOP permits Trump to do anything he pleases. White supremacist men get power and they sure do like them corrupted perks of power. The world gets the crazy.
A vote for any Republican = Death.
23
Here is the long and short: this mentally ill grifter never wanted to be president. Sadly, I voted him in. Shame on me.
28
This is a hoax perpetrated by Trump to distract and possibly humiliate investigators. The complaint should be handed over to congress but that would never have generated this much press.
4
I have always agreed with Nancy Pelosi but this time, I believe she is wrong. The American people have a hunger to see laws upheld.
Trump treats laws as though they were suggestions and is getting away with it. Enough! Even if the criminally negligent Senate refuses to remove him, let Trump wear the scarlet letter "I" forever.
Future generations may not understand just how destructive this mentally disturbed man has been to our country and Constitution but they will know that he was bad enough to join the very small group of presidents who have been impeached. Impeach NOW!
27
We have become a gutless nation. We have a "..." for president and nobody stands up against the emptiness. It is time for a nationwide Strike! and massive voter turnout in 2020.
21
It is another coverup.
5
"Why won't the [Trump] administration share it with Congress?" Silly question.
11
I am truly worried that he will win 2020, but I am more terrified that he will lose- and then refuse to leave the white house, impose some crazy martial law supported by the sick GOP, or inflame his base to violence.
24
How Biden may be guilty of political interference in Ukraine- let's find out, huh?
2
As with all the rest of this president's dirty deeds, nothing will come of this.
7
"Leaders" who take steps to ignore the law and ignore Congress are taking the first few steps towards a dictatorship. (See Madeline Albright's book "Fascism" as a refresher, to see how it goes.)
Trump, with his fixer, Mr. Barr simply doesn't intend to obey laws if it is inconvenient. He can break the whistle-blower laws, he then justifies it using his loyal puppets and then appeal, all the way to the Supreme Court, and we'll have an answer in 2 or 3 years. Timely justice, I think it is called.
Why don't we just quit having laws? Why do we need the Courts, certainly not the Supreme Court. The courts won't act soon enough to have a meaningful result and the Senate just plain doesn't care. To avoid chaos, we'll just let Trump become dictator for life and then crown Ivanka when he dies.
Or do we want to do something!!! Vote for Democrats in 2020.
25
Time to hold trump accountable for his lawless actions and let him suffer the consequences for breaking America's trust and decency in the highest office in the land.
12
Yesterday in the Sydney CBD I witnessed a traffic jam caused by
....Children! Thousands of them
protesting adults' inaction the world over on Climate Change.
Meanwhile, Trump chose this week to promise to squash Obama's outstanding accomplishment to lower automobile emission standards, as championed by California, starting next Monday.
The Whistleblower needs to come forward and save the country from it's own stupidity. No one else will do it. What would Daniel Ellsberg do?
25
Trump is the only sitting president in US history who is hellbent on whitewashing his precessor out of US history.
Every treaty, every action, every program, thoughtfully planned and put into action by President Obama in cooperation with countless others both nationwide and worldwide is being systematically destroyed by Trump. Every single one of these stupid moves has had unintended consequences.
Now he is pushing the country to defend Saudi Arabia? Are we all asleep?
The Whistleblower and their attorneys need to call a Press Conference and bypass this Do Nothing Congress that aggregates tweets but does nothing of substance.
Trump has moved beyond collusion with Russia to get elected. Since there were no consequences, Trump has moved on to Ukraine to get himself re-elected by using national assets as a bargaining chip.
Will Congress act when Trump puts himself up for a Third Term? Don't count on it.
28
Trump is frightened of Biden. Good. We know the president's Achilles heel.
16
The right wears their MAGA hats. Isn't it time for the left to start wearing blue whistles? The right seems to respond well to dog whistles so why not?
15
Democracy is already dead. Left critically wounded by Trump, with the coup de grace delivered by Pelosi. Thanks for nothing, Nancy.
10
The only thing we have to fear . . . is what the President will do next!
18
A worst case looms. The US burns and Congress stalls while Trump and his merry corps of GoP fanatics and sycophants pull strings to keep truth and consequences at bay.
--Whistle blower, obstruction, collusion, tax fraud, emoluments, election finance fraud, sexual deviance, pay offs...
We know what Trump's latest Ukraine escapade was very, very wrong, urgent and very likely one more impeachable offense.
How much longer can America's institutional fabric withstand Trump's manipulating assault on truth and consequences? At what price do Trump appointees and the GoP deprive America of accountability and justice?
After Trump is thrown out of office the first and foremost task of Americans must be to redraft the warp and weft of our institutions, laws and practices. The first 100 days. We must evaluate the damage and legislate changes to guard against the possibility of another execrable Trump-like president. We must amend unclear, ambivalent, delayable, lawyer vulnerable laws. We must legislate against another worst case.
17
What does it take for Congress and the American people to say, “ENOUGH “?
The whole country is suffering PTSD from the daily onslaught of lies and corruption from Trump and his sycophant enablers like Mitch McConnell.
This is a country that has lost its way , a civilization in bad decline on so many levels.
The greatest generation is reeling in their graves wondering , “ we sent our children to die for this?”
24
I think we need Sherlock Holmes for this one. I thought world leaders were supposed to be pally.
1
Why won’t the administration share it with Congress?
a. Because Trump is an illegitimate president.
b. Because Trump cheated to win.
c. Because Trump is guilty of making promises against US interests.
d. Because Trump plans on cheating AGAIN in the 2020 election.
e. All of the above.
21
Lewandowski provides a glimpse into the thinking of the failing president. He says he has no obligation to tell the truth to the media because it lies as much as everybody else.
1 They assume everybody lies as a matter of natural course
2 If you use a magazine to lie to the public, you are not lying to the magazine; you would be lying to the American public through the magazine
The media is not what he is lying to. Media means a vehicle for transmitting information. Corey was not lying to the media but to his fellow Americans. The Trump junta is in fact and of dumb.
11
Americans who decry the failure of corporate leaders, congress, and the judiciary need only look at history. The self-serving support of Nazis and Fascists in 1930s Germany and Italy by those classes were merely repeating actions sadly witnessed throughout history. In the modern era, how many dictators coerce the courts and manipulate their legal systems? In assuming they were better than all that, Americans must confront the evidence that their place among humanity is not a shining hill but just a hill that must be defended if future generations are to get a glorious view of the sunrise.
17
We've gone from no one is above the law to no one is above Donald Trump.
13
Republicans must pay the price for their unethical undying allegiance to this man. Plain and simple America, we must vote them out in 2020.
19
The headline subhead asks: Why won’t the administration share it with Congress? Because there has been a coup. Alert the media! Wait, you are the media. It is rude to answer a question with a question, but I must ask. Are you ready to admit that this administration is an attempted coup?
9
When Daniel Ellsberg threatened to expose Richard Nixon's secret bombing campaigns in Laos and Cambodia, Nixon went to court to prevent the New York Times from publishing the pentagon papers.
Daniel Ellsberg then gave those secret papers to twelve other news papers.
The truth will come out.
20
"It’s not every day that a whistle-blower in the intelligence community files a complaint about the president of the United States."
In fact this is the first time in 243 years. Never in our history has a sitting President been accused of treason.
Don't put lipstick on this pig.
27
"Urgent Concern" NYTimes you have aided and abetted this fool. You have legitimized him, and you have profited off of him. There is so much shame to go around.
The best part is that this too will get twirled around and blown around, and the Democrats will do nothing. Pelosi is talking about changing the law. News Flash, it is not a law that is preventing Trump from being brought to Justice, its complicity and temerity.
12
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not forward the whistleblower complaint to Congress because it does not consider the complain of urgent concern. The general counsel for the DNI sent a letter to the congressional intelligence committees that said: “the complaint “does not meet the definition of urgent concern. That definition concerns serious allegations relating to the ‘funding, administration or operation of an intelligence activity within the responsibility’ of the DNI. This complaint, however, concerned conduct by someone outside the Intelligence Community and did not relate to any ‘intelligence activity’ under the DNO’s responsibility. Because the complaint was determined not be be an ‘urgent concern,’ the law did not require that the DNI forward the complaint to the Intelligence Committees.”
The letter also noted that the DNI consulted with the Intelligence Community Inspector General and took no steps to prevent the ICIG from forwarding the complaint to congress.
https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/1818-dni-letter-2-to-schiff/4ecb7c343981a8678ac4/optimized/full.pdf#page=1
http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2019/images/09/17/sept..17.letter.pdfhttp://
1
John Lennon summed up our yearning perfectly all those years ago in the song Gimme Some Truth: https://youtu.be/10YeFhYGVJU
5
We all know Trump is a grifter (and not a smart one at that) who happened to have a very successful Dad. The real danger is all his minions: McConnell, Barr, Mulvaney, Conway, Miller, and Kushner who make this all possible. May they all live long enough to experience the disgust and contempt of their fellow Americans after these sordid episodes are over
18
When the inevitable happens, and the Trumpublican't Tower of Dominoes comes tumbling down, I'm throwing a party like Fort Lauderdale hasn't seen in 40 years...
Meet me at the Elbo Room on Las Olas Boulevard and A1A!
10
Did your headline writer really ask: "why won't he share them with Congress?" He has never shared anything with Congress and gotten away with it. Why would that change now?
7
Where, oh where is our Congress? Do they enjoy being a doormat for this so-called president? I'm looking at YOU, Speaker Pelosi.
14
I think that Trump promised Putin using someone else's phone that he would take down NATO. Trump is Putin's puppet and I'm wondering when we're going to be finally taking this traitor down.
15
We know nothing right now. And the board deems it worthy of an opinion piece? Is this like the opinion piece published about Kavanaugh? Please, turn down the anti-Trump, anything is worthy of publication whether true, known, or verified approach to publishing the news (or presenting it under the opinion section). Wait until you have some information?
2
Liars have to have a much better memory/recall than people who speak the truth. Mr. Trump lies as frequently as he breathes. At that rate, it is next to impossible for him to remember what he said when.
7
As with his adamant refusal to provide his tax returns, the only reasonable conclusion is that he's hiding something stinky.
10
Trump, fraudulently elected, has been committing crimes against the American people, the constitution, the law, democracy and non white people from the moment he was erroneously sworn in. He is a domestic enemy of the nation and is working with Putin to destroy the United States. My fellow Americans, we are UNDER ATTACK. There is no other way to understand it.
15
Is there anything other than the DoJ opinion, which could be overturned without a new amendment, standing in the way?
2
The idea that the whistleblower's complaint falls outside of the scope of the intelligence community is absurd. The laws are meant to allow an employee to report potential corruption of a superior employee, ostensibly his boss, such as Barr or Trump, without fear of retaliation by them. If he saw lawless behavior by Trump he had every right to report it since Trump is his boss.
Republicans are breaking the law. They need to explain the rational for permitting such corruption. We need to put the Republicans on trial and hold them accountable for Trump since they are his enablers. That can only be done through impeachment. It would not only be a trial of Trump, it would also be a trial of Republican integrity. - if they have any left.
14
Trump to Democrats, government watchdogs, whistleblowers, and anyone else requesting government witnesses, records, reports, etc.:
"Go pound sand. You get nuthin."
Enough Republicans in Congress are fine with this to protect him. Josh Hawley (R-MO) says it's a "deep-state" problem with the bureaucracy trying to keep a legitimately elected president from doing what he was elected to do. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) agrees. Jim Jordan (R-OH) says he's sure that the president is doing what's best for the country. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) doubts that the president has done anything wrong.
They're in the minority of course. Three quarters of the country can yell themselves blue in the face and scream that the US is headed to third-world dictatorship. But Trump is impeachment-proof and his behavior will only get more outrageous and illegal as long as he's in office. No one can do anything about it.
There's no guarantee either that we can vote him out in 2020. We should be very worried whether next year's election will be conducted fairly.
13
"Taking his marching orders from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel....."
It certainly appears that for the second major time this year, our Attorney General is blatantly undermining the rule of law----working on behalf of the private interests of Donald Trump at the expense of our entire nation. This will not end well....
10
This situation does not pass the smell test. Nor any other test.
Our democratic republic was not designed to deal with a President who is a con man who acts as he pleases without regard to the law or even common decency.
Time to impeach, and to convict.
13
Because they don't have to share it. You don't get whatever you want, just because you want to see it.
2
Trump and Barr knew the story would get out in any event, but they likely wanted to get their stories out first with their own spin (as with the Mueller Report) and scare the devil out of the whistleblower and future ones too.
They don't care if they break the law in carrying out their strategy -- any more than it would have bothered Trump's hero and role model Roy Cohn
8
The Congressional Sergeant at Arms needs to oil up his AR-15, be sure the lock on the jail in the basement works and then the various committees need to start issuing contempt citations and enforcing them at the point of a gun.
Lock them up. Lock them up.
9
"Why won't the administration share it with congress? Because Trump from the beginning was never to be anyone other than a Russian controlled dictator. When are we finally going to--get it?
9
If we cannot actually impeach Trump, perhaps we can make him abdicate. Either way, we do not need a king nor do we need royal shills like Giuliani and Barr. It is bad enough that we have a major party that does not believe in government; we do not also need a branch that is not the Executive but the Monarch.
9
What Trump has done is unprecedented in our nation's history. Going to a foreign government to try and dig up dirt on a fellow American, a political opponent, is something no American president has ever done before. With Trump we are reaching new lows of corruption and depravity, day after day. His followers seem willing to accept whatever he does, and the Republican leadership, so frightened of him and his "base," remain silent. It used to be said that Republicans hated Obama more than they loved America. Now it appears they fear Trump more than they love America. We are reaching a make or break point, where either we fight for democracy or see our freedom die.
12
The man is President, not Emperor, the administration has no legal or moral right to withhold something so serious. This is a direct usurpation of the Republic.
9
Enough. Impeachment hearings should proceed.
12
Why won’t they release it? Because it’s a waste of time. Move on. Examine its worthlessness in 50 years. Next...
1
For years Trump has denied collusion now he has been caught doing it red handed. Time to pull the impeachment lever.
11
Simple solution: some hero must leak the whistleblower's complaint (and Trump's taxes). These acts of heroism cannot damage the institutions any more than they've already been defaced by this criminal *president.
10
And again NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. The House Dems are feckless and the Republican lead Senate are accomplices. Add the SCOTUS gerrymandering ruling and Trump will get four more years...maybe eight. Look at NC 9th District redo congressional race. The Republicans got caught cheating and they won by MORE votes in the special election. Readers of the NYT underestimate the depth of Trump's ability to stir anger and hate. It's happened before, it's happening now in Europe and South America, and it's happening here. Unfortunately "the Poorly Educated" don't realize or don't care.
10
I’m worried about the whistleblower. Look:
“Current NSA whistleblower law does not provide for back-pay, lost wages, reinstatement of the whistleblower, statutory attorney fees, or judicial review of administrative decisions. Mr. Kohn advocated for informing whistleblowers of their rights under the False Claim Act and potentially arranging proffer agreements with individuals. The flaws within the NSA’s own whistleblower program apply across-the-board in the IC.”
https://www.whistleblowersblog.org/2018/03/articles/government-whistleblowers/intelligence-community-whistleblower-ombudsman-fired/
1
Well he got away with collusion in 2016 so he now thinks that he can get away with it in 2019. And with the spineless GOP supporting him he just may get away with it.
12
Trump's promise could be to Putin about Ukraine. How long has it been since trump talked to his puppet master?
6
I am making myself dizzy by shaking my head repeatedly - when are we going to "cry uncle" on this guy. The more Congress remains ineffectual, they give Trump license to bully, lie, and coerce whomever he perceives to obstruct his "rule." He is a blight on democracy and needs to be stopped!
12
Trump is having his Nixon moment, finally.
4
I can't help but thinking that this would not be an issue at all if Trump didn't have such strident proxies
Most addicts can't continue harmful behavior without enablers of different stripes.
Substitute power as the drug of choice and anything is justifiable as the means to the end of getting the "fix".
The difference is that the addict has an illness, but the power hungry are the illness
2
The Director of National Intelligence has gone off the reservation. Wunderbar.
We can always take solace in the knowledge that things aren’t as bad as they could be. Silver linings, right?
6
Both houses of congress need to be recaptured and legislation needs to be put in place reining in the executive branch. Will the Supremes allow it? This ''acting head of''charade to avoid the minimal scrutiny of Moscow Mitch's presidium, once known as the Senate, has got to stop.
20
It's high time someone, perhaps the whistle-blower, perhaps the Intelligence IG, perhaps anyone with access to the materials, put the shoe on the other foot and ended the Trump Justice department's cynical game of obstruction, delay and obfuscation by ignoring the Justice department and administrative directives. Just simply and directly come clean with Congress and the sovereign American People. If that means taking a hit in terms of "breaking the law" or being terminated, so be it: that's called civil disobedience. It's what the principled and the patriotic do to stop perversion of democratic principles, ideals and true justice under the guise of lawful authority. Saddle Trump's corrupted Justice Department with the burden of going to court. To argue what? That the evidence is inadmissible once the cat is out of the bag? An impeachment proceeding has no such admissibility rules.
23
Nancy Peolis and the Democratic leadership have failed in every way to succinctly message to the American people that this President has no regard for 60%+ of the voters in America. They should be pushing legislature right now to demand that any and all "acting" appointees be removed from office after a limited time if no candidate is brought to confirmation. Why are we beholden to a dictator who has found every angle to neuter the entire Congress from controlling him?
23
Speaker Pelosi, may finally get what she wants out of this episode and see Trump in jail.
My understanding is that it is illegal to attempt to extort a foreign leader to help you get reelected.
Congress needs to indite Trump and have him removed from office . At that point he would be arrested for extortion.
Nothing else will suffice.
28
Gerymandering.
Refusal to consider Merrick Garland for Supreme Court.
Refusal to inform Congress of a matter of urgent concern about the President.
The Republicans are the enemy of the Constitution and the people.
Case closed.
May this "party" disappear into the ashes of the 2020 election, or consequent revolution, if they try to prevent another real election from happening.
64
Who knows, maybe Trump was telling Medvedev that he could be "more flexible after the election". That would be an awful thing to say wouldn't it?
8
@John
No it wouldn't be that bad if that's all he said
Why do you ask ?
2
Every day for over two years I've had the same thought - I wonder when enough is finally going to be too much.
Are we there yet?
P.S. Please keep our prime minister - he's not very bright and thinks Trump is a role model.
31
Goldsmith absolutely nails it near the end. And what he says can also apply to the GOP congress as well.
I had a less sophisticated but similar observation toward the end of last year: That the presidential position has gotten far too powerful, especially now that the GOP "leadership" is unwilling to provide oversight, even for issues that may be treasonous or damaging to national security.
42
Well, at least we have Twitter to rely upon to maintain a quasi-official record of President Trump's daily communications. Were he using taxpayer supported, government approved means of sharing his thoughts, he and his crew might meet with more successes in their efforts to hide and obscure possibly illegal and corrupt goings on, and to prevent our members of Congress from doing what they must - uphold our laws and protect our Constitution.
19
Donald Trump's goal is to own the court system so that he can't be held accountable, no matter what he's done. Mitch McConnell has been indispensable in accelerating the process.
61
@Larry
He's already unaccountable. The US is a fascist regime.
6
True story: On inauguration day 2017, our car was totaled by an oncoming pickup truck going too fast to stop in time, while we awaited a left turn at a light that was changing. By some heavenly grace we survived the collision unhurt. I like to read some symbolism into this incident - the significance of the date of course, the ensuing destruction, the being stuck waiting for a signal to change so we could move to the left, and of course make what you like of a pickup truck going too fast and recklessly to stop itself... it's really kind of rich when you look at it. I like best the part where we survive unhurt, though, that's my favorite part of all; here's hoping that, too, is symbolic of our perilous political situation.
52
My dentist, who was constantly bad mouthing President Obama during his first term, disclosed that he was a member of the Tea Party when I told him that I was leaving as his patient and that his actions were going to lead to a race war. I had no idea how close to the truth I was and, worse, that if it could get any worse, it wasn't that bad. It did --and it is.
55
A dentist with a bad mouth! Love it. The words and thoughts for the teeth.
3
Complain all you want. Trump has no respect for the law, the citizens of this country, America's reputation, or how he is perceived by the voters. Following right on his heels are the Republican members of Congress. Between the two, they have flipped America off.
Pelosi may be reticent about impeachment but I ask her this: who has ever deserved it more than Trump? Who?
107
@Steve
Without Mitch McConnell and every member of Congress who supports Trump, Trump wouldn't exist in his present state. Trump probably didn't realize just how corrupt Washington was and how easily he could take over. They all should get the boot.
8
Trump is a nightmare from which we can't wake.
The sleep of reason indeed does breed monsters.
Are we trapped in this abyss until November 2020 or (Buddha forbid) another four years after that?
Folks with reason must continue to rebel and do everything to rid the world of this living horror and his enablers.
62
In today's political climate there's really no such thing as a "whistle blower" complaint or alarm. The atmosphere is so grossly antagonistic and polarized that it's rendered this label "completely erroneous" or absurd. It is merely evidence that the NYTs is bored or feeling "blue" today and wanted something to be enraged about. This is it folks - a whopping whistle blower alarm. Ha! You guys are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the US media.
5
@DED
Laughing stock? That's what trump is outside of the south.
8
@I am guessing you love those spinners over at Fox.
6
There is a web site that people use to raise money; I don't remember the name, but we need to get a fund going to protect and defend this whistle blower.
17
@WildCycle
'...we need to get a fund going to protect and defend this whistle blower.'
Let's see if it's necessary first, but if so, GoFundMe is a popular web site.
3
November 3, 2020 -- ELECTION DAY - What will the headlines read Wednesday morning? If people like those who write the majority of the comments I read here do not get out and vote for a Democratic candidate or credible Independents (Justin Amash I turning to you), then our democratic experiment will be over. The next step was written about by Thomas Jefferson:
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of tyrants and patriots." means that if liberty is to exist, there will forever be a struggle of free people with the forces of tyranny.
Make no mistake, Trump represents Tyranny.
47
How ironic that Trump's base were the ones constantly manufacturing outrage over Obama and accusing him of tyranny. It was all baseless, but cheered on and inflamed by right-wing media. Now the same media are enabling the deterioration of the US. The powers behind the GOP and their propagandists must be pleased their money has been so well spent.
13
Remember when Greenspan said that the one mistake he had made in his economic forecasts was that the officers of corporations would not destroy their own companies for personal gain? And the officers of Enron did exactly that. Now we all seem to naively think that the leader of the free world would not destroy his own country for personal gain.
57
The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, is the current leader of the free world. His performance at the G7 clearly demonstrated his leadership. The title "Leader of the Free World" accrues to the person actually doing the job. Trump is not doing the job.
7
This seems like a Coup is taking place in our country and nobody with any real power is doing anything about it.
Republicans and those in the Trump Administration are all part of the coup and complicit with the trashing of all that our United States has been built on and has stood for since 1776.
My heart is breaking, I feel great fear for our country and the world.
73
@P Mattson
It has already taken place. Just look at the Supreme Court.
4
Our nation was founded on a bedrock of sound principles:
No taxes. Let me repeat but louder: NO TAXES! Grab all you can get and keep it. Every white, property-owning Christian man for himself. No sharing except in church.
Guns, plenty of them - all you want, all you can afford, and you can brandish them anywhere to broadcast your strength, self-sufficiency, and opposition to intrusive government. People will get shot. So?
No abortions. We must take care of the unborn and not put them in jeopardy until they draw their first breath. Then, it’s open season on everyone and exclusively the parents’ responsibility. How can we tell someone to drop dead if they’re not even alive yet?
Money talks. No precept is more central to our patriotic origin.
The president is actually a stand-in for a king but without the headgear and primogeniture. The Leader controls the Senate, aka the evaporating saucer, and is the power behind the throne. The president is limited to two terms, but the Leader can hold sway over the nation until the cows come home and he grows as withered as yesterday’s prunes.
Your debt is bad (and probably sacrilegious); my debt is good and doesn’t matter anyway.
We dedicate ourselves to a government by, for, and of the people in the most rural and backward precincts. While they’re squabbling among themselves, the real Americans are fleecing them.
Only the Republican Party stands betwixt our sacred Christian nation and the evil pit of Godless Communism.
1
While I understand the concern of most commenters. I think you need to pause and think about the ramifications of allowing a whistleblower on authority of congress to undermine the executive.
Just as congress can’t legislate away the executive, it would be problematic for congress to chisel away at the executive by legislating away what must be in the domain of the president in order for the president to be a constitutionally effective executive.
The question is whether the protection of whistle blowers in this context would undermine the role of the executive such that it is an unconstitutional derogation of the executive by congress.
Think about it, the next president might be a Democrat, and the congress after that Republican. For those who are not too frayed as to think we are in the end of times, this incident should be seen as setting precedent. A fact that many democrats have not been too keen on remembering.
1
@Aaron, it's the law. The director has to turn over the information to the Intelligence Committee, that was vetted by the agency inspector general, within 7 days.
The fact that the inspector general, in this case, is a trump appointee makes mincemeat out of your "undermining the executive" objection.
55
We are no longer a nation of laws.
Our government and way of life is disintegrating in front of our own eyes.
Our road to perdition or collapse is not unique in world history.
All functioning democracies are the same, the ones that fall apart the same way.
29
@Steamboat Willie
Just look at the Roman Empire. Trump is the American Caligula.
4
Trump is one WOKE cat! I think the left should give him a pass.
2
@RS
Try weasel.
Trump is a weasel.
wea·sel
/ˈwēzəl/
Learn to pronounce
noun
1.
a carnivorous mammal related to, but generally smaller than, the stoat.
2.
a deceitful or treacherous person.
8
Maybe he will shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight between now and November, 2020. And then invoke executive privilege.
23
There is so much wrong with American politics....it feels, to use the vernacular, utterly batch!t crazy. This is insanity. Yes, because of Trump who is clearly a freak, a clown, a monster. But traditional politics in this country is completely broken if the GOP is so in love with Trump. Trump and the GOP have no shame at all. But Biden says he wants to work with them? No way.
26
The slide from democracy to banana republic continues.
38
Theway things go with Trump it looks to me less like impeachment time and alot more like Prison time. He just keeps on breaking the law and the Congress just keeps letting him get away with it. Mitch definitly need to go away.
30
RIP America. We are toast. With the fox in charge of the hen house, AKA a Republican controlled Senate with no interest in putting country first and an AG who is more of a personal lawyer to tRump than even Guiliani, what hope is there of any repercussions to tRUmp's behavior?The country is no longer on life support. The American way is simply 6 feet under, never to live again. It has been a nice run. Again RIP...
27
The Democrats need to start playing hardball and fast. Instead of the months and months of incremental legal baby steps they've been meekly attempting, they need to simply initiate impeachment proceedings immediately against Mr. McGuire. That would force the documents to be forwarded to Congress in a hurry, since Mr. McGuire would face losing his job. This pussyfooting around is getting the Democrats nowhere. Articles of impeachment pertaining to Trump should also be brought to a vote before the entire House this month. Why the wait? The evidence is already sitting in front of everyone in wholesome abundance. This overly PC polite legal route isn't working (although it should). These people are inflicting real damage on the country. And I hate to say it, but the Dems are continually being played by the GOP, and it has been working brilliantly. When something isn't working and you aren't getting anywhere, change course!! Nadler and Pelosi have both already bungled the impeachment "inquiry" so badly with absolutely no results to show from it, and an apathetic American public is growing more bored with it every day that goes by. Fight fire with fire people! Send the Sergeant-at-Arms out to arrest some of these delinquents and put them in the brig. Do something!!!
33
It's always the same whether it is Trump's tax returns or a whistleblower's report.
Trump always moans and groans that there's nothing wrong and he is being so abused (wah-wah) and then he makes sure that NOTHING is ever released.
Which leaves the nation asking: If there's nothing to hide, why are you hiding it?
Why are you always making up new laws that are supposed to stop all investigations dead?
And, why doesn't the Attorney General of The United States work for the public anymore?
48
"Why won’t the administration share it with Congress?"
Because the Trump Administration is fascist. Henceforth they will cover up any crime that the president commits. Trump's lawyers said it best on Thursday: the president is not subject to criminal prosecution for anything he does.
Before the 2016 election I told several friends that the American people are not extremists, and they will never elect a fascist like Trump as president. I was wrong about that, but I was right about something else. I also said that, if elected, Trump would govern as a fascist.
Trump's promise to the Ukrainian president that he would unfreeze foreign-aid funds, if the Ukrainians helped him to dig up dirt on the Bidens was kept. He unfroze the funds, thereby breaking multiple federal laws. And the Trump administration, starting with William Barr, will never let Congress see the whistle-blower's report that proves it. The Trump administration is fascist to the core.
34
I'm getting a feeling that the GOP wants executive power to be unchecked, and only answerable to an impeachment inquiry. So, if you are not willing to impeach then just get out of the presidents way. This will only result in chaos ( DTs modus operandi ).
High crimes, and misdemeanors.
If the president jaywalks on Pennsylvania, IMPEACH him.
This is insane.
24
"Is anyone dumb enough to believe me" - Donald Trump
22
Treason is a Republican tradition.
25
Donald Trump thinks he's the King of the World. He thinks he's the Smartest Man on Earth. He thinks he should get EVERYTHING he wants. Donald Trump does not understand the words "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Donald Trump is actively trying to kill all life on Planet Earth. Donald Trump is actively working to kill The United States of America.
Donald Trump is a rapist and sexual predator. Donald Trump has been a thief and head of the Trump Crime Family for decades.
Donald Trump must be impeached at once. In November 2020, Donald Trump must suffer the biggest loss in history at the polls and lose the House the Senate and the Supreme Court.
It's him or it's us
39
Trump never read the Constitution. When he pledged to uphold it, the producer was phonetically reading him his lines
through his earpiece just like they did on The Apprentice.
7
Past time to stand up Democratic leaders and put aside political motivations and address this constitutional crisis. As many have done for this great country, sacrifice of personal and political goals is required for the common good of our country and it's constitution.
14
My fear is that his flouting the law will continue to worsen and when he loses the popular vote and electoral college, Trump and Barr may well declare the vote void and illegal. Then what? We’re already more than halfway there as far as unprecedented corruption and cronyism. Trump has already started with this kind of talk. I never thought that we would see this level of lawlessness in the administration go completely unchecked. I fear this will not end well for the USA.
23
September 20, 2019
A Macbethian president:
When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
When the hurly-burly's done,
When the battle's lost and won.
[…]
I come, Graymalkin.
Paddock calls.
Anon.
/////////////////////////////
ALL Trump
Fair is foul, and foul is fair;
Hover through the fog and filthy air. (1.1.1-13)
jja Manhattan, N. Y.
12
No Collusion. This Russier thing is a hoax.
6
I will go out on a limb, and say because this administration is the most crooked, and the biggest bunch of liars this country has ever seen in government, okay Nixon was close.
15
@Ricky. For sure Nixon was crooked, but at least he had some foreign political sense. I never feared that Nixon would sell out his country to Russia, Korea or the Saudi’s.
11
Here we go again. trump lies, Barr is behind him. Giuliani is off hunting nuts for his winter supply.
31
The whistle blower should call the Times.
23
This terrible POTUS is going to go down in history as the biggest scam artist of all time. Imagine someday telling your children that a mob boss scam artist became President once by cheating with Russia? Trump has owed money to Putin's Oligarchs for over a decade before he ever even became POTUS. This money trail was trackable if there was a proper vetting for POTUS. Why didn't this come out during the election you say? Well guess what, Hillery tried to say it during the debate. By then, the Russian faux information had been so ingrained into people they actually hated Hillery for things she never really did. We do proper vetting for a management position in a fortune 500 company but not for POTUS?
Well, whatever SNL did in hiring then firing that comedian recently won't matter, since as usual, Trump just gave them another great season of material to work with.
We have a reality TV POTUS who hires people who are only a smidgen more qualified than him in every key position. We're so screwed if this is allowed to continue.
23
This news reminds me of Gen. Mattis not telling of his full experience and knowledge of the trump administration due to his belief in a neutral military. I was quite appalled that he didn't say more, his truth, which could possibly save our democracy. After all, wasn't his long military profession meant to protect us? He should protect our democracy! Urgently and with concern, the whistleblower is doing it now. Mattis, McMaster, Coates...where the heck are you when the country needs you most?
25
Careful. lib-progs, this smells like a Trump set up and not the other way around. No matter how you cut it, Biden's exposed in Ukraine and quite likely China as well - some pretty unsavoury business goings on with his thoroughly unsavoury son.
There's also a significant trail of evidence the Clinton campaign got dirt from the former Ukraine Admin back in '16.
There are dribs and drabs coming out of the IG and DoJ election interference investigations that will likely hurt Democrats going forward, even though the media works hard at ignoring it.
Trump's doing the setting up here, witness his encouraging the media to keep digging.
3
@Lazlo K. Hud
As if Trump’s sweatshops in China and his relationship with Putin are an open book. Gimme a break. I’m retiring this year and one of the things I’ll enjoy most about the upcoming year is that I will have a lot of time to get involved in a registration drive, talking to the people in my neighborhood about just how obscene Trump is, and offering rides on election day.
Thank God I’m not alone on this one.
7
Mr. Trump could visit the Kremlin, and in front of hundreds of cameras, hand Vladimir Putin every one of our nuclear codes -- and there isn't a Republican member of Congress who would so much as raise an eyebrow.
36
@Scott: I am sorry to say you are right.
3
Or a Democrat, evidently. Thanks, Pelosi!
2
The administration won't share anything that exposes presidential wrongdoing to anybody, even if it has to violate the laws to hide it. The administration won't share ANYTHING with anybody else, curiously, leading to the rock solid assumption that everything the president does is something he needs to keep from the public and Congress. Impeach the corrupter-in-chief.
13
Can Mr. Trump ever try winning an election WITHOUT getting a foreign country involved??
14
As the scandals pile up, day by day by day, with Congress unable to hold trump and his minions accountable, I find myself wondering if Nancy Pelosi is really the right leader for these times. She seems more than willing to let this whole drama play itself out while the country wonders if we are losing our democracy under her watch. I am frightened by all of this and would love to see a strong leader step in put trump in his place. Nadler and Schiff are trying, but they can't get too far without the elusive support of Pelosi, who appears to prefer to fiddle while Rome burns.
30
When this is all over, as the GOP clutches its pearls and pretends it didn't fully know, enable, and even encourage Trump's lawlessness, one would hope they would get on board to shore up our democracy to prevent this from happening again--perhaps simply because a corrupt Democratic president and administration could do the same thing to achieve unpalatable ends.
10
"Why won’t the administration share it with Congress?"
Is this a rhetorical question? I mean, it's clear they won't share it for the same reasons they are not sharing Trump's tax returns. Or responding to subpoenas. Or revealing the nature of the private conversations with Putin. Or, or, or....
Trump and his Administration are in the business of obfuscation so they can hide their treasonous, self-dealing behavior.
The bigger question you should be asking is why is Congress not immediately using the full force of the law to get the Administration to comply?
23
Why doesn't the whistle-blower just go directly to congress? Why are the democrats allowing so many laws to be blatantly ignored? All I keep hearing about is the outrage over what Trump and his minions are doing and I just don't see anything happening to stop any of it. What is going on? This is outrageous. It has to end.
24
The basic problem is not Trump. There is a constitutional means of dealing with such a man. Impeachment!
However, the founders did not anticipate an enabling corrupt Senate.
Sad!
24
No one in this administration seems to understand the meaning of the word "shall". "SHALL provide Congress with requested tax returns of any citizen..." "SHALL send to Congress whistleblower complaints..."
13
Why won't the Administration share this "Urgent Concern?"
BC no one, I mean NO ONE, working for Trump has integrity!
22
This coming from the intelligence community of corrupt and entrenched civil service bureaucrats who tried to organize a coup on Trump. If I were President I wouldn't trust them either. If it is about Biden and his corrupt son's shady dealings with Ukraine and China, I think that DOES need to be looked into BEFORE the next election. The real whistle blower here is Trump for highlighting Biden's corruption.
1
Maybe Trump is awaiting the final results of an ongoing investigation of wrongdoing by someone who is or was in government. It may even be a member of that person’s family. Trump however, seems remarkably calm about this issue. I would guess that the investigation is of a high ranking Democrat, perhaps even a present or past Presidential candidate. Trump may already have received damaging information about the person. Democrats certainly want to prevent any derogatory facts about a Democrat from being made public.
1
@Richard Wright
Huh?
15
If the law says the head of DNI “shall” deliver the OIG’s report to Congress, who actually enforces this law? Who has jurisdiction? What are the penalties for failing to adhere to the law? Someone should find out & convene a grand jury to pursue charges. There are no ands, ifs, or buts so the matter should lead directly & quickly to McGuire’s arrest; he can remain confined until he complies. Daily fines, if available, should accumulate until he complies. Then, if necessary, expedite a trial … aren’t there expedited procedures for matters of national security? Why can an issue of such apparent import sit idle for another week when there is unlikely to be any change by then? If seems we have more expedient action for numerous other crimes of less significance. What am I missing here?
8
We must never forget the criminal actions of this administration. When the time comes, they must be prosecuted and face the punishment they so justly deserve. This is not a situation that calls for compromise or forgiveness.
29
I don't know if the administration claims to be "open". What they definitely claim is that they are "transparent" and they certainly are. It is very easy to see what they are trying to do, especially when that goal is to retain information that should be released. We also know exactly what to expect from Moscow Mitch and crew.
12
We've seen Trump, inter alia, defend Neo-Nazis, side with Putin against our intelligence community, send United States service personnel to stay at his Golf Courses, for Pete's Sake. And on and on.
My question is: Is there anything -- literally anything -- that we could possibly find out that would change a single mind about this man?
18
The Times waffles unnecessarily, once again. "There’s a solid case to be made that Mr. Maguire ,,, is ignoring the plain language of the law." No, there is not a "case", it is obervable fact. The law says "shall"; he is ignoring it.
He may claim a reason to ignore it, like "executive privilege" (not a law), but he is plainly ignoring it.
20
StupidGate: It's the crime AND the the cover-up.
15
But . . . her emails.
17
and don't forget....
.... but Obama's book deal....
.... but the Obama's movie deal with Netflix....
.... but Pizzagate....
etc etc etc ad nauseum
4
Nobody--quite yet--believes Mr. Trump is a clone of Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin, both of whom, in their brutal ways, were more coherent about their cruel aims than is this President.
Even so, the comparisons are apt in other ways, in particular their machiavellian attitude to the truth about themselves and their methods--their utter contempt for law and procedure--and their shameless destruction of those who happen to cross them in pursuit of law, ethics, justice and truth.
Another obvious comparison is the behavior of other parties to this charade of moral responsibility, including very nearly the whole apparatus of the Republican Party.
Not that Democrats will get off the hook, when the whole story is written. Even so, the nearly wholesale capitulation to Hitler of Germany's educated elite is beginning to show up the profile of our own mass of sheer political cowardice. When the whole story about Trump is written, nobody with any serious public responsibility in this country will emerge with totally clean hands. In its own way, that's the tyrant's logic: since every man has his price, everything can be had for a price. That's the Devil's Deal that rules our country today.
We don't deserve it, but the very mercy of God itself is to me beginning to seem not so much a religious fiction as an indispensable thing in the most secular of all things, namely, the government of a society, our society, as it now is.
13
Long ago, at the beginning, Trump must have promised Putin that the US would abandon NATO in return for money and aid in ‘winning’ the election. Manafort knows and was part of the plot to reclaim Ukraine.
16
From a Brazilian perspective the behavior of the American president is a bad omen for what the future may hold for us with Jair Bolsonaro. Our president seems to act in complete sync with his White House model.
An insane brotherhood of leaders threatens the viability of our world and imposes on us a wreckless agenda while we are sitting by, paralyzed and wondering why our institutions cannot keep us safe.
The complexity of modern societies is now used as a hideout to delay or eliminate accountability and modern elections swim in pools of cash instead of being the time for understanding the candidates' plans.
Jair Bolsonaro never campaigned ,arguing that his recovery prevented him from debating. he got elected without defending his "vision", by almost 60 million votes. Mr Trump's incoherent campaign speeches are being embraced enthusiastically by folks he would never allow into any of his properties.
And so it goes and everybody knows.
20
its certainly true that a normal person would not reveal classified information or make inappropriate comments on the phone when that person knew others were listening in. but (t)Rump is not a normal person. we have plenty of evidence that he is mentally unstable and we have all seen the video of (t)Rump revealing classified information to a foreign adversary in the oval office. so for him to make that claim as a defense is completely unbelievable.
15
Trump just can't keep it in his mind that he has to conduct business as the President of the United States while he's in office and not an amoral New York real estate grifter. It apparently never occurred to him that he'd have to operate differently.
16
Trump lacks restraint, knowledge, and diplomatic skills. He cannot continue to jeopardize the security of our nation. Vote Blue!
16
Careful Democrats, Biden family lucrative Ukrainian business dealings may come to light in this imbroglio.
1
@Lane Everything should come to light. This is not about Democrats or Republicans this is about the future and well-being of the US as country of law and order and democratic ideals.
30
If they do we have a strong group of other Dem candidates. I am not sold on Biden.
15
@Lane, AND YOUR POINT IS WHAT? None of the dem wannabe candidates is the leader of a cult, and none of we interested democrats worship at the alter of any candidate, for we are not members of a cult. We would accept anything that was disclosed about any of our candidates.
16
“Why won’t the administration share it with Congress?” Do I need to read the article to find out the answer? Trump is desperate to stay in office and say anything to avoid prosecution. And now I'm going to study this column to get the NY Times’ insight, which I always value.
9
Of course, the Republicans are perfectly happy with the Treason Trump has committed. Selling their country down the river has become second nature to them.
9
Trump says anyone would have to be 'dumb' to think that he would say anything inappropriate. I can't recall one incident where he has NOT said anything inappropriate, much less grammatically correct.
He is growing more dangerous by the minute. Time to invoke the 25th, everyone.
17
Sadly, the laws are ambiguous in this case, precisely because they give the President broad discretion in handling and authorizing access to classified information. The whistleblower statute, 50 U.S. Code § 3033(K)(5)(g), defining "urgent concern" concerns "flagrant problem, abuse, violation of law or Executive order... regarding classified information...." Then, under 50 U.S. Code § 3161, which mandates classified information rules and procedures be created by the executive, those rules and conduct are to be "as determined by the President." The problem is that all of these statutes rely on the President to act with loyalty to America. Trump is a traitor.
The problem, as we have seen over and over with Trump, is not legal. The problem is that Trump's sole loyalty is to himself. Wherever there is a disparity of interest between Trump and the United State of America, Trump acts in his interest, and against the US. This is a political problem; the solution is voting Trump out of office.
On that note, Democrats have often been derided, and arguably lost elections because of perceptions they are weak on national defense, or insufficiently patriotic. This is a golden opportunity to present a strong position on defense, on active, principled American leadership of the free world, and contrast that with Trump being the traitorous coward he is. That is what we all need to take from this: Trump is disloyal to America, and must be voted out.
10
when factual data is suppressed, the era of democracy ends.
that's what you have.
you've seen the players through history.
trump doesn't want a roy cohn, he wants a goebbels and he has one in pompeo. he tells us what they want us to hear, but it isn't the truth.
and so forth down the line. history is repeating itself.
persecution of minorities.
restrictions on the press.
secret communications, including sharing of classified information with adversaries.
trump got it backwards with Egypt's Sisi. he said where's my favorite dictator. that was no joke.
but now it's putin saying where's my favorite dictator - and he means trump.
13
The Trump presidency and administration have clearly given us a wake up call - and demonstrated the urgent need for a rework of the constitution and several laws.
Except for the the very complex process of impeachment, there are obviously today no way of holding the president and administration accountable to some of the written laws and rules.
Furthermore Mr Trump has also exposed how much power congress has given up and shifted over to the Presidency.
Time for a huge constitutional reform!
How can anyone believe that the founding fathers could have foreseen everything in the development of society so that the constitution cannot be adapted to the life and actions of today?
A strong democracy adapt and make changes!
6
An "Urgent Concern". Here's an urgent concern. Donald Trump was elected by just 27% of the eligible voters in 2016. While we wring our hands about the latest Trump outrage only to have it overshadowed by the next we don't talk about why it's even possible that such a person can represent what is purported by some to be the greatest, richest and most powerful nation in history.
The pundits and the talking heads tell us that it was because of a handful of voters in a few midwestern states that used to be reliably blue turned red by a few percentage points. Then they focus on why that happened and how they were misled by a con man. But that explanation is just another distraction. The more basic problem is the lack of voter participation in this country.
It is or should be of great concern that polls continue to show that nearly 40% of voters still support this man in spite of his criminal behavior. But it's a far greater concern that the last time voter turnout was greater than 60% was in 1968 and hasn't been more than 70% since 1900. How can we call ourselves a representative democracy (or more properly a Republic if you prefer) when we don't participate? In 2016 just 56% of the voting-age population went to the polls. If Democrats really intend to win in 2020 the most important thing they can do is simply get people to the polls. This is a campaign that has to start now. Here's your first bumper sticker:
"In a Democracy, We Get the Government We Deserve">
19
@Chris M
Thank you for your response. While I agree that Hillary fits your description well and I understand the response of those who voted against Hillary and not necessarily for Trump. I am nevertheless appalled by the number of people who continue to support him. And it is certainly their right to do so. Which is all the more reason why getting ALL of the voters to the polls is the most important thing we can do.
"There was no misogyny,"? I think you'd have a hard time defending that if we could interview the cohort. Voting for him at the very least means you found it acceptable in a presidential candidate.
"Agreeing with your angry leftist professor"? Labels like "leftist" , "conservative", "libertarian", "progressive". These are just shorthand to describe ideas that reduce the conversation to a level so abstract that it serves no useful purpose. The problem with political discourse in the 21st century is that we've simplified the conversation to the point where everything becomes an us vs them condition.
White vs black; immigrant vs native; rich vs poor; Capitalism vs Socialism; Democrat vs Republican. And about that. Walk into a room of 10 people and pose a question and you'll get at least 12 different answers but we have just 2 parties?
If there is any way out of this quagmire it will require a cultural paradigm shift that includes the realization that we are all in this together.
6
It’s Trump colluding with a foreign power to influence the 2020 election. AGAIN! Just like he did in 2016. My strong sense is that he requested the Ukrainian President to start an investigation of Joe Biden about his son in order to discredit him before the election. This is what treason looks like, folks. And since he got away with it the first time he’s decided to go with it again.
12
@Bodyman you don't think hiring a British former secret agent to pay Russians for false dirt on your political opponent, using political contacts to launch an FBI investigation and then leaking to a friendly media the FBI is investigating your opponent for colluding with Russians isn't treason?
Seriously??
"Why won’t the administration share it with Congress?"
It's a good question. Permit me to answer.
Because the entire episode has as much substance as the recent "Brett Kavanaugh book expose" piece in the NYT.
Meaning, the "whistleblower report" is garbage, and smacks of "deep state" nonsense which got temporarily paralyzed by the lack of anything to report in the Mueller investigations. And after so many raised expectations in the Times, which often highlighted its reporters breathless "timelines" of Trump corruption which Mueller was just itching to release. Imagine the letdown for Adam Schiff!
More to the point, "releasing" this non-story will mock executive privilege for the President to say whatever he wishes in his calls with foreign leaders. Any second-guessing by "whistleblowers" sets a very bad precedent for future Presidents.
I hope this answer helps.
3
@Jubilee133
No one I know wants a"lynching". We want a fair and open investigation.
We want the FBI to interview all of the individuals who state they have information.
We want federal employees to follow the letter of the law. "Shall" is not ambiguous.
And, in what Universe does the American President have the right to say "whatever he wishes" in a call with foreign leaders. He cannot legally or morally say, for example, "I'll increase your aid if you help me win this election"!
BTW, executive privilege was not claimed.
8
I cannot explain how this Pres. Donald Trump after the new whistleblower how is staff panic mode from last night to today. This president has violated the espionage act, after speaking to your Ukraine president to dish out money to him so things will get better for his campaign.Wow several months ago Congress located $250 million but was rejected by Pres. Donald Trump. Now we know the reason why, today in the oval office he mentioned it was a political operative operating listening to his phone calls.
That's hard to believe the person that was listening was working for the American people, international security department or CIA.
This is one of many lies President Donald Trump will tell you he should be removed from the office immediately. Any of vice President pence doesn't want the job give it to Nancy Pelosi that's the best choice the American people have. After this new revelation Nancy Pelosi has no choice but to impeach this President for violating the oath of office and the Constitution Pres. Donald Trump should be in jail with his buddies :)
4
If I am reading this correct whole thing with Ukraine is about Joe Biden son getting lucrative deal because Obama administration help in overthrow of Ukraine government. Maybe is true that current administration is trying to expose Joe Biden, in inappropriate way,
Fact is that Joe Biden used American power for personal benefit of his family. This is not in defense of no one , but i am really confused what we are talking about here. What I see with Ukraine is that someone from Biden family is getting rich because daddy was vice president of U.S. Now Trump administration trying to expose this again for personal political gain of U.S current president. So sad and shameful to all, especially Ukraine country larger than France ....
3
As we now understand it, the "whistle-blower complaint" is centered on a phone call that Trump made to the new Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky. During that call. it is said that Trump told Zelensky that he was halting $250 in military aid to the Ukraine, called "the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative", unless Ukraine fabricated 'dirt' about Joe Biden or his son's interactions in Ukraine.
Several of Trump's accomplices are currently in prison for their ties to Russi and Ukraine. They are the true link to 'dirt' in the Ukraine. Trump is the most corrupt, the 'dirtiest' US president ever.
9
Even if the underlying allegations are found to be inconsequential, the White House's response to the whistle-blower complaint is extremely significant. Mr. Trump is eliminating the system of checks and balances that defines our democracy. Without this basic foundation, the legislature and judiciary are stripped of any meaningful authority and the main principles that our country was founded upon are extinguished.
In addition to the near-term threat to national security, and erosion of separation of powers, in the long-term, Mr. Trump's actions now become precedent for our future leaders.
1938
@KM very well said, very concerning to think that the system of checks and balances could very well be meaningless in a situation such as this.
100
@AM totally meaningless. There’s a reason most democracies have a Parliamentary system.
38
@KM - Spot on! I'm very much afraid, even if the content of the conversations come out, no one will change their mind about anything. From the GOP point of view, this is just another negotiation to ensure they get to maintain control and continue with their de-regulation and tax cuts. They're happy with our King selling us out to a foreign czar. Soon the US will be burning and Drumpf will be fiddling.
101
I do not purport to be an extremely knowledgeable person regarding the affairs of governance of this country but what we are seeing now in the level of stonewalling and obstruction seems to be beyond belief. It was bad enough when Mitch McConnell disallowed a vote on Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court. I just don’t understand how Trump and the Republicans can do whatever they want to do with no repercussions and without suffering any consequences for their unlawful behaviors. For the layperson this just seems unconscionable. The tide has got to turn or democracy as we have known it since our country’s inception will be dead. Help!
3785
@Mimie McCarley In response to your question, they can do whatever they want because the United States Department of Justice - a federal executive department, responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice - is run by William Barr, a hand-picked toady who has demonstrated that he views his role to protect trump rather than the law of the land. Also, they can do whatever they want because the Republicans in the House and Senate march lock step with trump no matter how egregious trump’s behavior, rather than do their Constitutionally mandated job to act as a balance to the executive branch and protect this country. Finally they can do whatever they want because Mitch McConnell set the stage for trump when he did not allow a vote on President Obama’s pick for Supreme Court and assisted trump and republicans to stack the SC with “judges” sympathetic to their agenda.
Vote Them Out in 2020!
1007
@Mimie McCarley
Well said. Who would have thought a rebel like myself would end up fighting for the rule of law? Fight for it indeed . No one is so high as to be above the law.
240
@Mossy
"Also, they can do whatever they want because the Republicans in the House and Senate march lock step with trump no matter how egregious trump’s behavior, rather than do their Constitutionally mandated job to act as a balance to the executive branch and protect this country."
And, why is it that those Republicans do that? Could it be that they are every bit as connected to the corruption? Especially foreign (Russian, Saudi AR), to be precise.
The whole mess stinks from the head down.
347
What Real Estate magnate has gone broke? Viva Farmers, manufacturers, importers, exporters.
He says he wouldn't make that kind of call because of all the people listening in. But he doesn't use his office phone for calls to world leaders, he uses his personal unsecured phone so no one can monitor him. Caught in another lie.
Whoever talks or testifies, trump will destroy in some way. The old threat of "I know where you live & where your parents live."
5
So the whole thing was about Guliani talking to Ukraine about Biden.
Which is news we all read long time ago.
And now it is news again because of what? Because of the principle?
Go ahead a attempt to impeach on this, it will not even be a slap on the wrist.
That Gulliani was talking to Ukraine was news last year, and it all went away.
And now some obscure hidden person is starting this all over again.
Give me a break.
Scandals, that is all the Democrats are capable of creating.
2
@AutumnLeaf: Only Republicans have impeached president for sex lies.
3
Trump is determined to destroy our constitutional government by declaring the executive branch above the law.
5
The big test will come in 2020 if Trump loses the election and cries voter fraud. Trump will have AG Barr investigate and get back to us in 4 years in the meantime the supreme court rules 5 to 4 Trump should be president for life since he is a republican after all. What can anyone do but hide under our desks Trump has all the power and will use it to crush dissidents. Hello dictatorship/oligarchy/kleptocracy.
4
Should Republicans pick up one single “liberal” concern, they will gain a new foothold in their identity of being “alive.” That issue is nothing less than concern and recognition of climate change.
1
I'm sure that this is just one more effort by out draft dogging not exactly loyal to anything but his own self interest president. This is so routine with him that he can't understand why people are making a fuss over just a little more treason. It's been his daily objective for almost three years.
3
The connection to the Russian double-spy story that just broke, is inescapable. Putin to Trump: "Give me our spy back, and I'll give you the 2020 election."
3
We all know Trump by now, but the real danger to our nation, our democracy, and values is William Barr. I’m not sure what goes through the man’s head: why dismantle 200 plus years of tradition.....all because you believe in an Unitary Executive (American King). I hope you and the Trump clan will live long enough to experience the disgust and contempt of the American People.
5
Re: "...A whistle-blower’s report has alarmed the intelligence agencies’ watchdog. Why won’t the administration share it with Congress?"
I'm reminded of Usurper Trump's eternal_tax_audit, etc.!
The phrase 'Evidence, 'O, Guilt' to describe otherwise, unexplained / unexplainable presidential behaviors glows in the dark like T.M.I. / Chernobyl / Fukashima!
1
You will see formal impeachment hearings within the week.
318
@Chris Patrick Augustine Doubt it.
18
@Chris Patrick Augustine let's hope so.
43
@Chris Patrick Augustine ... Yeah, well, I won't hold my breath for that.
26
The Constitution was written under the assumption that those who sought political office were good faith actors who only needed to know what the rules were.
The Constitution provides no solution for a president who flouts norms of ethics, morality, and decency - sometimes reality, actively enabled by Congress.
6
Imagine what a hero to the American people the whistleblower would be if they spilled? I'm confident speaking for all of us that we'd contribute to their legal defense fund.
3
Since nothing else has done the trick to put trump in jail, I hope that this will, but I do think it reflects very poorly on Joe Biden to have allowed his deeply fragile, desperately troubled and debt-ridden son, Hunter, to involve himself in a Ukrainian business while he, as VP, oversaw US-Ukraine policies. Joe Biden seems just as impervious to scandal as you-know-whom. Nothing seems to touch him, not his history with the Thomas hearings, his recent lies about them, his inappropriate touching of women and girls, his gaffes . . .
Not getting this out front seems to me to be the same as the NYT not clarifying that the woman involved in Kavanaugh's alleged 2nd louche incident at Yale, doesn't remember the incident, thereby diminishing (or extinguishing) the impact of that vital story.
6
I find hard to understand why Democratic Party leadership doesn't recognize extent of damage their obfuscation and irresolution to act, in the face of the scores of criminal acts being committed by the current White House occupant, inflicts on the party's credibility. Not to mention the prospect of being perceived, in the coming election, as a forceful agent to repair the damage the Republican Party is inflicting on the lives of ordinary Americans. Only Elizabeth Warren reflects such an image and seems to be doing so in stark conflict with the meandering, unfocused stumbling of the party as a whole.
5
Either the whistleblower or the IG must speak directly to Congress and the American people. That the truth come out is absolutely essential.
557
@Vesuviano I'm afraid it's going to be a very looooong week, with many more than seven days in it.
10
Mr. Trump has such a short attention span, I am sure that he has long forgotten what he may or may not have said in order to trigger the so-called whistleblower complaint.
If it concerns Biden's son, the American people have a right to know the truth.
306
@Jack
You are absolutely correct. The American people have the right to hear the truth when anyone in our government leverages their position or privilege for personal gain. The President is no exception and there are multiple, documented instances where our President is guilty of what he's accusing the Biden's of doing.
95
@Jack
Slippery slope there Jack. If the American people need to know about the younger Biden's dealings then we need to know about the Trump/Kushner cabal as well.
Nice can of worms you got there. Can I get you an opener?
131
@Jack "If it concerns Biden's son, the American people have a right to know the truth."
If it concerns The President, the American people have a right to know the truth.
182
The 2016 presidential election as an inflection point in the downward trending arc of our Republic. The incessant torrent of malfeasance and intentional executive maladministrations of Mr. Trump has brought the naive presumption we live in a Constitutional republic governed by the twin principles of the rule of law and checks and balances into stark relief.
The fault ultimately lies with the American electorate who let complacency and self-destructive hyperpartisanship erode the foundations of our fragile democracy to the point it is slipping into the dark abyss of fascism.
No legitimate interpretation or extension of Executive Privilege supports the muzzling of officials who have credible evidence the President may have engaged in communications with a foreign power which an independent Inspector General has characterized as an "urgent concern".
The Acting NDI's legal obligation mandated transmission of the whistleblower complaint to Congress, not the DOJ or the Trump Administration. A whistleblower statute is reduced to a dangerous farce when the official whose conduct has necessitated the warning can hide the "whistle" and begin prosecuting the whistleblower.
The unprecedented deliberate interference by the White House and DOJ with the rule of law in this instance compels the whistleblower intelligence officer and the IG to immediately transmit the complaint to the Congress and the press.
8
The most recent glaring illustration that the primary issue in the next Presidential election is the rule of law.
9
I have a question,
Let's say congress does nothing about foreign interference in our elections.
So Trump strong arms the Ukrainians to help him win in 2020; but what if the Dems ask for and get help from the Chinese, or the Iranians, the French, Germans, you get the idea!
I think Moscow Mitch and company (and Trump himself) will be singing a different tune as to foreign interference in our elections.
My next question is, when will it stop? and who is going to have the nerve to end it?
4
This will be interesting to watch. Either Trump goes down because he possibly was caught tampering with an election. Or Biden goes down because all the details of his son's possible criminality and corruption will be revealed and Biden himself could be implicated. Or both.
2
Once again, Trump turns to a foreign government for "help" with an upcoming election. US Congress to American voters: "It's not your concern."
5
I am losing faith in our Democratic institutions that I once held in such high regard. Supreme court is a partisan hack. Congress is ineffective. Senate has every bill sitting on Moscow Mitch's desk, collecting dust. Has it come to anyone's attention that this is EXACTLY what Putin wanted to get out of Trump? He's winning. We are losing. We are breaking one scandal and obstruction at a time.
11
Congress, it is time for the articles of impeachment to be completed on trump first. The others will fall, including Moscow Mitch and Republicans in the Senate. The American people want you to do your job, as it was designed in the Constitution. You can start this weekend.
7
At what point do Pres. Trump's actions rise to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors"?
7
“I would only do what is right anyway, and only do good for the USA!”
Here’s the rub: In Trump’s mind asking the Ukrainian head of state to investigate Biden, or any other rival, is “good for the USA” as Trump is incapable of distinguishing that which benefits him politically, financially, etc. from what is in the best interest of the country.
7
Why won't the exec branch share this info? Because they're ignoring the Constitution. And if he asked Ukraine to find dirt on Biden or his family, which has been alleged, that would confirm that the president is seeking foreign involvement in his election next year, as he allegedly did with Russian interests in the run-up to 2016.
Patiently waiting for Joe Blow Ohio to connect the dots on all this, let alone Congress.
6
We know enough.
Quit delaying Congress, Trump’s giving away our intelligence on Ukraine - says the Washington Post - obviously to Putin or his Ukrainian stooge.
The continuing criminal effort to cover up acts by the man who spent his Presidential campaign also campaigning for a Trump Tower Moscow must end now ...
Before he uses the (no Congressional approval) War in Iran as the National Emergency to delay November’s elections.
STOP HIM TODAY!
3
This fellow must be removed from office quickly before he does great harm.
And our laws must quickly be amended so that no person is ever again able to ignore the laws and to do such harm as this man is doing.
9
Maybe now is the moment to seize on the public outcry and officially open an impeachment inquiry. There's more than enough evidence going back years, but the timing is obviously key for political purposes. This is the last straw and the last broken law.
5
With a normal president this wouldn't be so tough. He or she either says, "Someone is saying I did something, and I didn't do it," or, "Well, I did something like that, but there's a big misunderstanding; let me clear it up," or, "Yes, and here's what I did, and here's why it's OK—done."
But with President Trump he can never play it straight, and it's always this soap opera. And at this critical time in our history the affairs of the country are stuck in neutral while each day we hash through these kind of issues.
Look at the news on any given day—most of the national stuff is, again, Trump soap opera about what he said or did, who he fired or did they quit, his tax returns, snap “decisions” he tweets out only to later recant, and so on. I hope we can survive until January of 2021.
7
I have an urgent concern about our country. Its name is Donald Trump. This "urgent concern" occupies the White House due to a questionable election and to even more questionable and probable conspiracies and collaborations with those he should not be collaborating with. Several proven and many probable conspirators are or were on his own staff. Some may well be in his own family. And yet he thinks that we could not imagine that he would do something illegal and whistleblower-worthy? I personally can't imagine that he wouldn't.
14
They won't share it for the same reason they won't answer subpoenas from Congress or produce his tax returns, they have something to hide. The truth is out there and eventually it comes to the surface.
23
Oh Trump, what have you done? Your country can not take much more of you I fear.
17
A slow motion coup d'etat.
22
This is our own fault.
10
@Alan Snipes, maybe. This is the fault of either a well-placed minority playing the electoral college like a chess board, or wiser people of them they who manipulated it for them. I believe that where it is our fault is in allowing the now-corrupted electoral college to be allowed to continue. America claims that we are one person, one vote. Yes, more people live in cities. Yes, our votes need to count as more than 1 one 17th of a midwest farmer's vote. Abolish the electoral college immediately and things may begin to get better.
14
@CP: The Electoral College failed the mandate of the Founders. They were to be the stopgap on the mob. If the mob (of democracy) votes for an unfit person, the EC has the duty to not vote that person into the office.
But the EC has always just been another funny 'normality' because no one before was so obviously unfit. Another 'failure of imagination', like 9/11. And so here he is - a crime boss wanting to hook up with all the other crimes bosses in the world. He loves his dictators and truly wishes to be in the club. Democracy? That's for suckers and losers.
2
It seems that not even the loudest Sirens, alarm bells or megaphones will change anything . The daily manifestations of wrong doing and grotesque malfunction continue to demonstrate the degree of ineptitude in the present administration, AND everything goes on and will continue to until it no longer does, which may not happen in 2020.
It is profoundly unsettling, and has widespread ramifications.
21
Unfortunately, it will be difficult to codify national fidelity, reasonableness and common sense.
8
Honestly, why would Trump not fight this? The Dems only position is to find some angle to get him out. Investigations, by the Mueller and journalists, have produced nothing of significance. Do you really think there are honest or good intentions for any of these parties? I don’t. And now the issue is a phone call? Dems should try to become a party again and not bank on impeaching Trump. Stand for something.
4
Seems to me following the letter of a law drafted specifically to protect the citizens of the United States is standing for something.
10
@Mike Cos, we Democrats do stand for a lot of things, including standing up against Trump's and Republicans gross misbehavior in office. In case you aren't aware of what else we stand for, search through the pile of Democratic-sponsored and bipartisan bills passed by the House that are moldering on Moscow Mitch's desk. Our principles, America's principles, are in writing right there along with Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court.
10
@Mike Cos the mueller investigations provided nothing of significance? what a joke. it was a 10-step plan for impeachment, with pelosi refusing to do her job and act on it.
5
At what point does the number of acting cabinet-level appointees, serving without Senate confirmation constitute an illegal circumvention of congressional oversight? There should be a limit as to how long an acting director may serve without a nomination for a permanent director. Of course Trump likes acting directors and cabinet secretaries. He can appoint political hacks who are completely unqualified for the job but will protect him from accountability. It's up to Congress to show they have a spine and put an end to this.
28
I made a similar comment yesterday, and it bears repeating.
Those who refuse to respond to a Congressional subpoena need to be held in contempt and penalized, preferably by being jailed until they comply.
Those who lie to Congress need to be penalized. I don't care how. Jail is fine with me.
Those who fail to respond fully in a Congressional hearing need to be penalized. Again, jail would be nice.
Because, right now, we have a president and his (mostly) men holding Congress in utter contempt, failing repeatedly to comply with legal Congressional inquiries. And we all know full well that if a Democrat were to behave in the same way the Republicans would be baying for blood.
I commented yesterday that we are well down the slippery slope, with increasing speed, of losing our democracy. And you know what? At this point we deserve it.
22
The Democrats should file for an emergency hearing in the Supreme Court. Trump did this for the "emergency" of the census case, and then for the "emergency" of his ability to unlawfully appropriate funds for his wall. This matter involves an action by the administration which is a) forbidden by law, and b) has already been found to be a a threat to our national security by the agency responsible for making that decision. If the Supreme Court is not truly a Trump lackey, it can show its commitment to enforcing the law by ordering that the whistle blower's complaint be forwarded to Congress asap.
16
Trump is not fit for the office of president. Every day he shows an utter lack of ability to govern this nation. This whistle blower episode is just another example.
Congress needs to Impeach Trump asap. He has completely disregarded the Constitution. Hold him and those who follow him quilty of obstruction of justice.
15
It is guaranteed that the Republican Senators are discussing this away from prying eyes, and discussing it urgently. They are living inside a dilemma entirely of their own malicious making. What to do? Disavow the faux-president and suffer the wrath of their base? Or keep silent and go down with the Trumptanic? At a certain point they will decide that the former is the lesser of two evils and they will throw Trump away. It is a question of personal survival. And yes, an evil deal of immunity will probably be made. Though it is completely appropriate that Donald Trump be locked away for the remainder of his short and miserable life, doing so will tear the country apart even further.
9
It is painfully evident that our constitutional framework has strengths and weakness; it is evident the current President, a self-serving transactionalist, continually gnaws at the seams that hold the experiment in the republican form of government together.
The framework provides for vertical and horizontal separation of powers, war powers, and executive powers in times of exigency.
The framework relies on normative behaviors primarily, and when a President's behavior departs from the accepted standards, then the horizontal separation of powers to Congress and Judiciary patch the seam.
However, the framework did not contemplate the extent of the current abuse by the Executive and the framework did not allocate powers to the Department of Justice.
13
That's the thing about corruption. Once the body politic is infected by it, as it is now, the only solution is complete disinfection. No small response will help. No half-measures will stop its spread. Corruption is opportunistic and aggressive, once it takes hold. That's where we are, today, right this minute. Either we begin disinfection or we throw up our hands and declare that we've lost. That's the choice to be made, today, right this minute.
12
It is now BEYOND CLEAR that Donald Trump is a dangerous threat the the system of American checks and balances. He cares about one thing: Donald Trump.
Another 4 years of his Administration will destroy what we took more than 200 years to build; a free press and a system of justice that holds EVERYONE accountable.
14
The final sentence says it all: "...the system isn't designed to deal with a situation in which a hazard may come from the president himself."
trump is a whole bundle of immoral, amoral and insane hazards and the catch is that what few defenses we have (impeachment, the 25th amendment, and whatever passes for the rule of law) appear to be too cumbersome to employ in any meaningful way at present. We've even lost an independent supreme court, the branch that is required to keep us on the rails. Should things get that far, he'd likely walk.
Chances are this DNI problem is just another distraction with no foreseeable resolution but it may be part of an even bigger truly diabolical scheme to keep us from focusing on the real and provable crimes and misdemeanors that could and should get him nailed.
For starters, stick with emoluments and hammer the topic daily. It's there, it's real and he's he's even admitted (lied) on record that he needs the money to compensate himself for all he's lost as president. Cue violins.
In practice, this avalanche of insinuation and blindsides is only giving him cover. Pick one stick and sharpen it.
10
There doesn't seem to be any rule of law anymore. Nothing needs to be reported to any bodies that typically provide oversight, there are no consequences for any stonewalling (e.g. refusal to respond to subpoenas or to testify). All one needs to do is sue to prevent access to requested information and problem solved.
The media doesn't help in the least by reporting every single tweet, giving our dictator-in-chief a wide platform to spew his nonsense. Nor do they help by giving interviews to those that carry his water (the predictable Giuliani media misinformation blitz with the publication of the whistleblower news and notably CNN granting an interview to Lewandowski on the heels of his saying he is only truthful under oath). Why continue to have interviews with Kellyane Conway or any other Trump surrogates when not a single word out of their mouth has any basis in truth? Why give them more coverage to spew lies?
The remaining (and only) hope at this point is that when this amateur is voted out of office next year, the reckoning for he and every other corrupt individual associated with him will be swift and lasting. Donnie may mistakenly believe that he is somehow controlling the narrative through his endless tweets to his followers, but the one thing he will have absolutely no control over (blessedly) is how history will judge this extremely sad chapter in our nation's history - when an incompetent president enriched himself through the position of the presidency.
13
@Frank, "swift and lasting" and as harsh as his punishment would be for the majority of Americans who commit the "sin" of disagreeing with his idiocy.
Like it makes a difference, for all the "urgent concern," because this isn't the first or even second time that there's been "urgent concern" about this so-called president. Why the powers that be won't simply get rid of this criminal is anyone's guess. What scares me if the stuff he's doing that we *don't* know about. His misdeeds in plain sight are obvious enough.
7
Trump aside, don't Giuliani, AG Barr's, or Mnuchin's recent unconstitutional actions qualify as impeachable? We need to knock down this barricade Trump has built around himself. And doesn't this latest conspiracy to obstruct justice qualify Trump for 25th Amendment removal from office?
9
This escapade is valuable to voters for one specific reason. We now know that foreign interference in our Presidential Elections is a FEATURE, not a BUG, in Donald J. Trump election campaigns.
8
the law is being neutralized from the top of the state down. the lower echelons are trying to hold the line, but it is impossible --the structure makes their superiors their last resort when trying to enforce the law, and their superiors are rabidly eviscerating the law. the change must be made at the top and all the rot must be rooted out. Speaker Pelosi, please get out of your fog of attempts at political finesse and realize this is existential time for the law as we have depended on it for 240+ years.
8
The system is designed to deal with a situation in which a hazard may come from the president himself. It is called impeachment. Pass it on to Speaker Pelosi.
4
We have a president in the White House that is in bed with Putin, and not even hiding it. After our intelligence has found that the Russians have attacked us, that they have manipulated our elections, we are still calling this Russian asset our president. It is beyond comprehension to me.
6
It’s past time for House Dems to call an impeachment hearing what it is, and force Republicans publicly to defend an amoral, treasonous man. That should help Republicans’ 2020 election prospects. Not holding Trump publicly accountable in impeachment proceedings will only harm Democrats—and the United States.
6
Right now a major effort is underway by Trump's team to investigate and discredit the whistleblower.
They'll release the name, background, political affiliations (this person will be connected to the Clintons), financial concerns, family status, etc.
This will be an attack aided by Fox News and Donald will scream the name at his rallies.
The deepest of the deep state.
8
This could be the final chance the nation has to save any semblance of law and order it has left. We say, "No one is above the law." Let's prove it!
6
Why do we bother in trying to understand what Trump and his cronies are up to? Nothing and I mean nothing that this administration along with the entire Republicans minions has to say, is plain and simple a lie. So, let us just do what we need to do to render them nutured for life. Do not listen to what they have to say but just humiliate them right and left in private and in public.
1
So...
Trump says he hasn't read the report, but he knows the report is ridiculous.
Trump says he doesn't know what the issue is, but he knows the issue is fake.
Trump says he doesn't know who the whistleblower is, but he knows the whistleblower is a partisan hack.
Clearly, we are dealing with an omniscient being.
11
This is ALL on McConnell and the Republican senate. They will do nothing to stand up to this president and block all attempts to hold him accountable. Vote them out!
10
@Brown
McConnell and Amy McGrath are neck-in-neck in the polls. Consider making a contribution to her campaign.
All former presidents should sign an op-ed calling for Trump's immediate resignation or removal from office. It's a respected bipartisan group possessing the unique experience of having served in the Oval Office and knowing the awesome responsibility that the job entails. Trump not only is not up to the job, but he is turning the White House into the headquarters of his international crime syndicate. This has to end. Please, Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush and Obama, we need your help — STAT! Thank you in advance.
9
@H. Clark, best action step of the day! Thank you.
1
"On Thursday, Mr. Atkinson appeared before a meeting of the House Intelligence Committee that was closed to the public and the news media. "
Great, let's see what Congress does with this.
1
So, let me see if I have the picture correct... amidst the daily attacks that surface (day after day after day after day).
An employee said the President may have made a promise to a foreign leader during a phone call, but he doesn't know who the foreign leader was or what they talked about.
Is it me, or are these left-wing attacks getting more and more pathetic. (yeah, it's a rhetorical question).
2
@James Hoffa
Terrible how the presidents own employees find the report which you do not know enough about to assert what you have, was credible enough that the Inspector Genera (A hand picked Trump employee)l found it to be of Urgent Concern and forwarded it to be sent on to Congress by the DNI.
Will the conspiracy never end?
2
Read my lips: "Quid pro quo." It's not hard to imagine that Trump asked for dirt on Biden and promised something horrific in return.
5
"Why won’t the administration share it with Congress?"
This is the very definition of a "rhetorical questions".
2
Trump is the anti-patriot: He'll throw his country, including all three branches of government, under the bus to advance his personal wealth and that of his corrupt crime family. If we don't demand his removal from office immediately, then we deserve everything he perpetrates. And you can bet he's working with Russia or whomever to guarantee another four years as the disaster-in-chief. This is a never-ending nightmare.
8
Trump can magically produce documents and paperwork and explanations when he needs to.
Letters from Kim in North Korea, folders showing how he has removed himself from business dealings, papers in official binders proclaiming something.
He'll come up with documents from Ukraine saying that nothing inappropriate was discussed, it is all fake news, and AG Barr will investigate and clear.
3
How is this refusal to follow the law not impeachable?
6
I sincerely hope that when those within the completely corrupt trump administration are relegated to the dust heap of history (or better yet, imprisoned), the American Bar Association will seriously consider disbarring Attorney General william barr. He has acted without integrity, respect for the rule of law, legal precedent, and with complete disregard for the ethics that must govern any attorney.
6
The antics of this silly president and all the resulting leaks and acts of “resistance” on the part of the higher levels of the Federal bureaucracy raise the question of just who actually directs and controls the government of the United States. In the specific instance of this blowing of the whistle, we should also investigate why the person in question did not go up the chain of command with their concern? And based on what we have seen in the last two years we should be trying to determine just who governs this country; Obama, Bush ll, Clinton....or the “deep state”? I can understand why the intelligence community does not trust Trump, I can also see why Trump would not trust the intelligence community or the FBI.
1
@DEH why would the whistleblower go up the chain of command if the chain of command is also compromised?
3
It's getting to be make your mind up time for the Republican party. Not that they can be counted upon to operate in the national interest.
5
While I'm sure nobody is surprised that Trump would behave in such a traitorous manner, it's still appalling.
7
It is incredible to me that a president who hates the idea of being investigated wants the government of Ukraine to investigate someone else for corruption because it might help him get re-elected. "Hypocrisy is the audacity to preach integrity from a den of corruption."
10
In the past American patriots fought a war to break away from a tyrannical king.
Now we have an unelected by populat vote place keeper in our seat of power demanding that he be given "The Divine Right Of Kings".
Our government systems have failed utterly in the face of such blatent and preposterous actions. Congress refuses to act, simpering piously as our democracy is flushed away. All it took was one rigged election to expose how fragile our democracy was. RIP America. 1775-2017. Born in blood and new freedoms, taken down from within by a madman and his henchmen.
3
The US has an intelligence problem that concerns the lack of intelligence of the president.
3
A modicum of national fidelity and decency and judgement are what this unfit conman totally lacks. In that light we need to raise this as an Impeachable offense and let the American public judge Trump's lack of fidelity to the United States for the traitorous behavior it is.
5
I kind of hate the fact that my responses to the daily missives from Washington are becoming more and more glib. I can't keep up the breathless outrage and I don't know how else to respond anymore. Reading the paper has become more of an Improv class than civics or current events. That being said....
“Is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially ‘heavily populated’ call."
Yes, yes there are many many of us that think you would do that. You really shouldn't set yourself up like that.
6
Exactly what level of blatant, flagrant law-breaking will convince Nancy Pelosi that impeachment is a moral imperative?
7
If in fact Trump has abused presidential power to dangle military aid or diplomatic favors to Ukraine in exchange for political favors for his reelection--that's beyond the pale. Congress, responsible media, concerned Americans have to step in NOW. I thought we could hold on until the 2020 election and make a change in a more orderly way. I no longer believe that. Trump has ratcheted his abuse of power up to an unacceptable level of present danger.
5
More Trump stonewalling and ignoring the law. Please, Congress, hold Maguire in contempt and make sure he is jailed until he turns over the report. Otherwise, our Constitution and our democracy are at risk. We have three co-equal branches of government, not just an executive branch that can do whatever it wants, like in a third rate dictatorship.
5
"Why won’t the administration share it with Congress?"
Simple answer: Congress will literally do nothing to hold the president accountable. The Senate is controlled by the Trump party. And the House is controlled by a party so spineless and fearful, it will not dare perform its constitutional duties.
3
The system also isn't prepared to deal with a numerical minority of voters electing a president when that same minority will not only condone but defend his abuse of executive power, obstruction of justice, corruption, lies and crimes. The foundation of our constitutional, representative democracy is ethics and respect for laws. In order to vote for a Donald Trump, citizens have to abandon ethics and respect for law and if they prevail at the ballot box, the foundation is destroyed. President Carter ran on a theme, "A government as good as the people." The reverse is also true.
4
Through the Trump years so far the weakness of almost every check and balance in the constitution has been exposed.
How do we prevent the next Trump-like leader from abusing the Constitution?
What will be done to strengthen checks and balances so that the US does not eventually succumb to a non-democratic, totalitarian regime.
This should be the #1 issue for presidential and congressional candidates going into the 2020 election.
7
@Check N Balance its never going to be an issue because each president expands and exploits presidential powers no matter the party.
people were fine with obama stretching the power of his office to get his agenda accomplished, and they were completely ignorant of the fact that one day a tyrant would do the same.
people are dumb.
The situation with Trump has reached a level of insanity. Having both the intelligence and Justice departments compromised is a severe breach of national security. Trump and his kind will do anything to advance themselves without regard to the best interest of the country. Trump remains president, and the GOP supports him.
10
I am completely convinced now that even when the country does vote Trump out of office in 2020, and I believe we will, he will not leave office by claiming some heretofore unknown privilege of office.
4
"In other words, the system isn’t designed to deal with a situation in which a hazard may come from the president himself."
The last line is the bottom line... after this administration implodes, we're going to need some amendments to ensure we don't get another one.
A related issue is our Forefathers likely never expected the Vice President and Cabinet to be controlled by a minority of the President's fans.. they're more interested in keeping their jobs/getting votes than they are about the nation. Trump's mind is getting worse by the day, but no matter how bad he gets, Pence will never initiate Section 4 of the 25th Amendment by declaring Trump "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office".
4
I hope that everyone who thinks we can no longer sit by and watch this contempt for the rule of law go on will call or write not only your own congressional delegates but also the head of the relevant committee and the Speaker of the House, Ms Pelosi. Congress has contempt and subpoena powers and it is time they start playing hardball using these powers...Yes I know some unanswered subpoenas have gone to the courts to compel attendance and responses but too few. Corey Lewandowski and this acting DNI need to be held in contempt, jailed and fined.
5
"Congress is supposed to have oversight"
They have steadily been giving much of that away.
But, true, they definitely had more before this admin rolled up to the White House doors and bought out the Justice department and Republican congress, lock, stock and barrel.
Two (two and a half) against one now, not three equal branches.
Laws, democratic rule, reaching across the aisle has been replaced by national emergencies, executive orders or just plain refusal to follow anything but that which serves its own desires.
7
I was a Dem for 50 yrs and am not a Trumpist, but it disturbs me that an Elected President can be spied on by the Unelected CIA when conferring with a foreign leader. I know Dems are happy about this but it will also happen too a Dem President - they just can't see that far ahead. The CIA has just become too arrogant and doesn't remember they are an Executive agency.
4
@Jim Mooney, listening in on calls with foreign leaders is normal, and it's not just intelligence people, it's Presidential aides as well. It's part of the protocol in the Oval Office.
14
@Jim Mooney Trump pointed serious suspicion at himself in Helsinki when he met privately with Putin and then demanded the translator's transcripts of that conversation last year. He went to extraordinary lengths to conceal what is always a conversation of record with a foreign leader. These are not merely norms, they are actual laws that every president must abide by. It has happened to a Dem president and this oversight and recording is part of our government process. Presidents know that even the these highly classified conversations are put on record.
6
@Jim Mooney I do not believe you have the true facts.
1
This is just the latest attempt at "Resistance," and it, too, will be shown to be a bunch of lies.
6
@Jon, which is precisely why the President's hand chosen intelligence watchdog called the complaint "urgent?"
3
@Jon Yes, we expect more lies to come from Trump in the future.
@Jon
if so why exactly would El Trumpo's guy be the one who made this issue public?
I don't understand why Congress (or its committees) don't immediately press charges in court against executive branch staff or former Trump campaign employees who clearly violate the law by rejecting subpoenas or using patently invalid claims of immunity to refuse to answer questions from Congressional investigators. Why does Congress allow itself to be duped or stonewalled? Why give these miscreants a second chance? Can't the courts respond quickly to urgent charges and expedite legal proceedings to resolve such crucial issues immediately in the national interest, rather than allow the executive branch to thwart Congressional oversight action by relying on the customary inertia of the legal system?
11
@KB I know. I wrote the office of the Congressional Sergeant at Arms yesterday to ask if he was even contacted by Nadler or his committee prior to the Lewandowsky hearing. I haven't gotten a reply yet.
Senate republicans stand with Trump because Trump can and does belittle & stand against outliers. as for the rest of the GOP, they care about themselves-not the country; most importantly, they love power and the contentment it provides. They really have done very little and will continue to do what Mitch-the naysayer wants. Is this what the American Experiment was supposed to permit? If we don't wake up and act together, the center will not hold and our great democratic country will be in peril.
13
Donald Trump believes and his supporter believes he is above the law. And as Harry S. Truman said during the Watergate crises, "No man is above the law."
12
@AACNY But it always starts with accusations, not with evidence. And "[i]t's not every day that a whistle-blower in the intelligence community files a complaint about the president of the United States." There's a point - and we passed it long ago - where arms-folded intransigence equals sticking one's head in the sand. This is not a conspiracy or a coup - it is and always has been driven by reality.
3
@AACNY Yet Trump has spewed over 12,000 lies, choreographs many dances to promote his point of view and many, many people in this country will believe in his con artistry.
Please, explain that.
It takes (a leap of) faith to believe that Pelosi et al. have a long-term strategy with respect to the Trump kleptocracy's lawlessness. Political and legal maneuverings may turn out to be a wiser way than impeachment to keep concerns about the loss of our democracy front-and-center. Whatever the case may be, the opposition's messaging needs help. Whether the transgressions are legal, political, financial, or security-related, the common message that should be sent is: "What are Trump and the Republicans hiding from the American public?"
7
Let's hear from John Bolton!
2
@C.L.S. "BOMB IRAN!!!!" - john bolton :P
Trump likes acting directors because the Senate doesn't need to waste time confirming them...instead they can continue to push through far right extremist judges.
14
It is all a charade as is life. That does not mean we cannot write our own tickets. Reality is much more democratic than we are.
1
@Stephen C. Rose Louise Hayes?
@Erich Richter I assume you mean Louise Hay. I am not an expert on what she thought but if she believed that consciousness is non local and that materialism is only half of a unified truth, then sure. Thanks for your comment.
Donald Trump does not feel bound by our laws or our Constitution. I hope once he is removed from office (probably kicking and screaming) he will be fully prosecuted for the damage he has done to our country. Don't like his behavior? Hold the Republicans in Congress responsible. They are his enablers - and we have an election coming up.
15
Should anyone be surprised by Trump's response? When you're a liar, facts are your enemy. Trump has worked overtime to hide and suppress access to facts and truth. We see daily Trump's refusal to comply with congressional requests for information and documents. Trump wants no oversight as he views himself almost godlike and knows that when we finally see the facts and truth it will confirm his incompetence and corruption. Never has any president more deserved impeachment from both constitutional and moral grounds.
7
my naive take involves the guiliani madness when visited the ukraine to beg for dirt on biden's son. ukraine pres told giuliana no. president calls ukraine again asking for assistance is smearing biden son. partisanship at its finest cloaked in corruption that spills into USA? biden son not running for office. it seems a minor infraction after all trump has done with putin--especially withholding any notes on secret meetings with putin, which seem far more ominous. Calling out his intelligence community saying they should go back to school. lifting Brenner security clearance. guilina claims he did this on his own. who believes him anymore? the critical point is the attempt to prevent the legitimate flow of intelligence information to the legitimate oversight committee of congress--because they are now majority democrats, period. trump insults whistle blower as being ultra-partisan, when such lifetime gov employees, working for less pay, are dedicated not to a single president but to the country and its constitution. Thus he insults and stains all government workers whose careers have spanned decades. He has decimated the ranks of experts. AG Barr is not our AG but trump's personal bodyguard against the laws of the constitution. this act alone, failing to inform congress is impeachable. i don't care whether trump is impeached, i just want his unenforced errors and criminal obstructions out in the open.
10
Trump exhibits open criminal behavior where he has not only violated numerous federal laws but Constitutional ones too, he has violated his oath of office many times and intends to continue doing so, this president definitely qualifies for impeachment many times over.
15
Trying to imagine what it might be. Something to do with Epstein, but that would not be at the National Security threat level. That Trump is, in vague terms, a Kremlin asset, there can be no doubt. Perhaps he was caught revealing CIA spies in Putin’s inner circle. I could see the Republicans and The AG not really caring about something like that and working to protect him. At what point would they become accomplices and criminal conspirators for covering it up.
6
@Patrick
In David Frum's book "Trumpocracy, The Destruction of Democracy in America", he stated almost the first day Trump was in office he called in the leaders of the Republican Party and made what was probably the best "deal" he ever made in his life. He told them that IF they protected him from all his indiscretions going forward and even those that would be exposed from before he took office, he would sign ANY bill that crossed his desk, often done without even reading it. The rest, of course is history.
It was immediately at that point and right from the outset of his Presidency that Republicans and all Trump's cronies became conspirators and accomplices and their ongoing behavior just confirms it.
13
Here we go again with another issue that ordinary people don't care about. The result is predictable :
- Congress, long ago having surrendered many powers to the Executive, will demonstrate its impotence once again
- Pearl-cluching accusations will be made in the media that don't actually lead to criminal offenses, handling Trump another fake victory, gratis
-Then Biden will be rammed down Democrats throats, saying goodbye to two key points against Trump : Is he fit? and, Is he corrupt? On the latter, see Bidens son in Ukraine.
It's almost like conservative Democrats WANT Trump to have a second term.
2
@Matt
Conservative/corporate/establishment democrats are nothing more than Republicans of 20 yrs. ago with a democrat label, whom, like Republicans take their lead from their corporate donors, NOT their constituents and many of their "donations" are from the same donors that support Republicans. No difference.
2
Shall Law and Legal Definition. "In common, or ordinary parlance, and in its ordinary signification, the term 'shall' is a word of command, and one which has always, or which must be given a compulsory meaning; as denoting obligation. It has a peremptory meaning, and it is generally imperative or mandatory.
peremptory- (especially of a person's manner or actions) insisting on immediate attention or obedience, especially in a brusquely imperious way.
There is no provision in the law for the DNI to infer a different meaning or try to otherwise get the Inspector General's read on the matter overturned. Nor is there any authority granted to a third party to give an interpretation of what the IG's read on the matter is.
The simple fact of the matter is the DNI "shall" turn over the complaint. The AG sticking his nose in to help the DNI violate the law to apparently protect the president from his own actions is probably criminally illegal as well.
BTW if the president did not do anything wrong why do he and his people always refuse to provide the evidence that will prove this when asked? https://definitions.uslegal.com/c/consciousness-of-guilt/
7
To be clearer, they are not asked to prove their innocence, they are asked for records or information they posses. It is as a rule El Trumpo's people or himself who allege wrongdoing on his part then point at others and try to claim they said it as a ploy to distract us and the excuse for not obeying the request.
2
It seems to be about Biden, father Joe and son Hunter.
Hunter, in 2014, joint the Board of the Ukraine Energy
Burisma - owned by a member of the then Ukranian (and highly corrupt) Government
When the government changed to a more pro West one, it began a corruption investigation of Burisma. At this point, it is claimed (but not proven) Joe Biden, the Vice President of the United States intervened and asked the new Ukranian government to stop the investigation. Both Bidens deny it.
Whatever the truth, there is a clear conflict of interest when the son of the Vice President of the United States takes a job in foreign firm owned by a member that foreign countries government.
1
@Lars That's NO conflict of interest. Biden's son was/is free to conduct his business, as long as he doesn't violate any laws. However, OUR president (AND his family) VIOLATES your "conflict of interest" opinion EVERY DAY.
He refused to divest his personal family business, which he actively promotes, internationally! The list goes on.
Why would anyone accept and support his clear criminal activity?
1
The Hazard IS the president himself.
10
Amazing what this administration will not do. They do not represent the american people.
6
Once again Trump displays a disdain for the traditional collaboration among the independent elements of American government. He campaigned as a candidate for a monarchy and was elected by people who wanted somebody to relieve them of responsibility for the government.They got him. Trump is an uneducated idiot ,who regards his election as an enthronement and is annoyed when complaints about his violation of the constitution are expressed..he has clearly never read that document.He clearly merges his own advantage with the benefit of the country..if it’s good for him it’s good for the US. Thus he emphasizes the “great friendships” he has forged with various leaders ,most of whom are willing to gull him as they seek their own benefit. His administration is rife with self dealing,fraudulence,resentment and meanness
Impeach and indict
Throw him out and lock him up
6
A wishy-washy, pusillanimous, editorial on a matter of grave security concern to the nation.
1
And the Democrats are slow-walking this instead of running around screaming with their hair on fire, why?
4
The deep state cries wolf again.
Clever of Trump to send his goon Giuliani to CNN to plant the Ukraine story as a giant red herring — in a shrewd effort to distract from Trump's promise to Putin (the location of U.S. nuclear arms around the world, perhaps?) in exchange for a hotel, condos and a casino in Moscow. The plot thins...
8
Dear anonymous whistleblower, if you are reading this article then you must know the mechanism by which your concerns are supposed to be investigated has failed, crushed under the boot of Trump's authoritarian approach to government.
I urge you in the strongest possible terms to take make your concerns public, to let transparency into the process, and give the proper agencies the motivation to investigate.
14
What is at stake in this confrontation? Nothing less than the rule of law and the principle that the law applies to everyone: no matter their place in our society or government.
Lincoln's call that "respect for the law should be the political religion" of this country does not seem to have found a place in this Administration, with this President or his AG. Lincoln's principle has been supplanted by a President and his AG with a belief that not only are they not subject to the law but that they are the law and that they have the right, the power to supersede the law. So far, given the lackluster level of pushback from the Congress, they haven't yet been proven to be wrong. Yes, Congress has gone to court to get what it wants, but does the Congress believe that this President or his AG will ever respect the ruling of a court that demands that they do what they do not want to do? Take a moment and consider will they ever accept the judgment of a court that rules against them? I believe that they won't.
We are on the edge of a precipice. To keep from falling in and losing nothing less than our democracy, Congress must finally wake up and understand we all are at war with a lawless, vindictive and vicious President and AG who have no respect for the laws or rules of conduct of any kind. And do what is necessary to reign them in. Nothing less than our democracy and the rule of law are at stake.
9
What no ones seems to be addressing, and it is really mind boggling, is just HOW a "member of the intelligence community" obtained a private conversation of a president of the United States and a foreign leader. Forget, for a moment that it it Trump, or the contents of the conversation, how was this information obtained? Is the Oval Office bugged, is the presidents (or any member of Congress) phone line tapped? This is a separate issue from the contents of the communication and no one seems to be asking about it. Am I totally off base? While I have no love for Trump and would love to see him perp walked out of the WH, it needs to be asked, just how was this information obtained? I realize our NSA routinely listens in on all the the conversations of all world leaders, but domestic too? That's pretty Orwellian. We have allowed the Deep State to construct and put in place the infrastructure of a surveillance state. We need to be very careful how it can be used against us. Trump is the low hanging fruit for setting a very dangerous precedent for domestic surveillance by an unelected and thinly monitored intelligence community.
1
@FXQ "I realize our NSA routinely listens in on all the the conversations of all world leaders, but domestic too?"
By definition if the NSA is listening in on conversations of world leaders, and the person on the other end of the phone is the president, well then seems logical that conversation would be recorded. Or does the NSA only listen in when the Prime Minister of Canada is talking to the Prime Minister of England?
6
@FXQ
Well, an obvious candidate would be, since Trump doesn't speak any foreign languages, someone doing translation work for him. While we may think of them as 'translators', they may well have security clearances and service grade levels that put them into the category of 'intelligence community' for administrative purposes.
Beyond that, there's always the possibility the news reports are inaccurate in that regard. Even Sen. Schiff admitted that they can't confirm much about the story without official information from the DNI and the IG referral.
2
@FXQ - Telephone calls made from the Oval Office, by the President always have a number of other auditors on the line. Some are notetakers - and tend to be very senior intelligence representatives - some are translators - some are political advisors. The practice is well-established and customary. Just as in the days before telephone communication, there were 'secretaries' taking dictation, advisors editing and supporting the communication and official recordskeepers making an official record of the event. These records are stored and retained. It is improper and illegal to discard or alter them.
5
What Trump does is usually in plain sight. I think that what he "promised" a foreign leader is to stop financial military aid to Ukraine. And that the foreign leader is Putin. Shortly after his call with Putin, he forms a group to study if the aid to Ukraine is in the best interest of the US. Then he announces that the group including Bolton will look into it. The deadline for the funding to Ukraine ends on September 30.
3
@Joan But there was a "quo" that he got, as well. I believe THAT is the crux of the complaint. We'll see (hopefully!).
3
If there is one thing all these episode have taught me it is that the DHS needs to be broken up again. The DOJ and the investigative bodies need to be made separate and independent of each other completely. If there was a second thing this should have taught is it is that the "oversight power" of the US congress needs to be placed into the constitution and given teeth.
4
If this thing is going where the dots seem to leading us, the Federal Election Commission is unable to do anything. They do not have at least four members. Trump has failed to appoint anyone to fill the openings they have. I don't see him doing it before now and next November.
2
For the last few decades, Republicans have said we *must* adhere to the law as written, and not try to interpret the law based on what Congress might have mean't.
is it unseemly of me to gloat, now that the Trumpites are saying the word "shall" should be interpreted as "shall, except when inconvenient"
6
Once Trump decides he has no use for someone, he discards them like an expired pizza coupon, and humiliates them publicly.
What I find incredible is that they seem to take these humiliations as "Aw, he was thinking of me!"
I do not understand the power he holds over his deluded followers, for I myself find him petty, self-serving, and obnoxious.
That is not a whole lot to be deluded about.
4
Why doesn’t the inspector general, with oversight on the intelligence community, turn the report over to the Congress? Who can you trust in Congress, the human sieve? The Democrats are disorganized and the GOP is dishonest.
2
@DENOTE REDMOND
He is also a temp employee subject to removal. he probably was encouraged to buy something he can't afford right after he got hired and now doesn't want to have to deal with the fallout of losing the job.
2
Amazing that we fought a revolution 250 years ago to put an end to precisely these conditions.
13
Come election day 2020 if Trump steals the presidency again. And if Congress is again taken over by his lackeys, We are all going to have to make a decision as to whether we want a real democracy or the strong-man authoritarian. I like democracy. What about you. FYI Trumpers (who want a guy like Putin) I know that we are a republic; do you?
6
GWBush's lies that got the US into the Iraq War were far worse than whatever Trump is doing. The war added some 6 trillion to the US debt and made the US less safe and the world less stable... metastisizing terrorism all over the world, killing millions and wrecking countries...
This anti Trump hysteria is ridiculous.
The Constitution gives the president the right to lead on foreign policy, except for going to war and appointing ambassadors, both need Congressional approval.
I wish the NYT and other Establishment media were more objective in their Trump reporting.
I sense that the NYT, other Establishment media, the Establishment in general, will DO ANYTHING to keep Trump from initiating better relations with Russia and North Korea.
Why get along, when war is so profitable...
What is the Establishment afraid of?
1
I wish Trump’s fans could – at a bare minimum – i.e., at the very least - be able to distinguish an Opinion piece (marked “Opinion”) from an actual news article.
However, I “sense” that they have no idea what expositive journalism is.
As far as being “afraid” goes, ALL democracies should be afraid of this level of willful ignorance – the kind that dances with prejudice and resentment of journalists and is completely out of step with reality as well as decency. History demonstrates that such abuse leads to reprehensible chapters that all decent people become ashamed of.
So I say, and I say it as the daughter of a man who fought with the 101st Airborne, Yankee Infantry Division during WWII – SHAME ON TRUMP AND SHAME ON HIS BASE.
Keep Guiliani flapping his mouth and we'll have Trump in handcuffs in a month.
7
There is no mystery as to why the whistleblower complaint wasn’t forward to Congress. As the New York Times has pointed out, the general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence sent a letter to that said: “the complaint “does not meet the definition of urgent concern. That definition concerns serious allegations relating to the ‘funding, administration or operation of an intelligence activity within the responsibility’ of the DNI. This complaint, however, concerned conduct by someone outside the Intelligence Community and did not relate to any ‘intelligence activity’ under the DNO’s responsibility. Because the complaint was determined not be be an ‘urgent concern,’ the law did not require that the DNI forward the complaint to the Intelligence Committees.”
https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/1818-dni-letter-2-to-schiff/4ecb7c343981a8678ac4/optimized/full.pdf#page=1
1
@William Case " Because the complaint was determined not be be an ‘urgent concern,’ the law did not require that the DNI forward the complaint to the Intelligence Committees.”
NONSENSE! That was Maguire's ARBITRARY (and irrelevant) "determination". The LAW requires that complaint go TO CONGRESS, not to the DNI.
2
Why won't the WSJ even mention this issue?
2
DJT: “Is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially ‘heavily populated’ call."
YES
8
@MatthewJohn DT: “Is anybody dumb enough to believe I would not say something inappropriate with a foreign leader even on a potentially ‘heavily populated’ call?”
Fixed it for him.
1
We all know Trump by now, but the real danger to our nation, our democracy, and values is William Barr. I’m not sure what goes through the man’s head: why dismantle 200 plus years of tradition.....all because you believe in an American King. I hope you and the Trump clan will live long enough to experience the disgust and contempt of the American People.
6
So the Constitution has no teeth after all?
3
Conspiring with foreign governments to undermine Americans...ignoring subpeonas....breaking Emoluments clauses and laws ...the list is endless...
Just imagine for a second that you are a member of Congress and you're in office as the Rule of Law is disappearing in America and chaos is taking hold and not only are you virtually sitting by as an elected member who has sworn an Oath but you're watching this unravelling and in some cases you're enabling,aiding and abetting foreign AND domestic enemies that are shredding the Constitution....a Constitution that many tens of thousands from previous generations of Americans gave their lives for ...what a legacy....its a Hall of Shame for all time...and the names of those who did nothing will never be forgotten...they may call themselves Americans but I don't recognise or consider them as such....as a Harvard law professor said this morning ,it's treachery if not treasonous.What an absolute and total disgrace.
7
This administration was built on deceptions and lies. It is starting to catch up with them. PLEASE VOTE! to remove those charlatans from office.
5
We all know the answer to this question, trump is hiding something.
6
First the Steel dossier and 2 years leaks/speculation leading to nothing.
Here we go again...
2
@Lane
I don't call 10 or 11 or more.clear.instances of obstruction "nothing", I call it.quite.clearly a whole lot of something. Definatly treachery, probably treasonous, and while our country burns you would prefer to hide and pretend it is not happening.
Instead of tea.this time we need to dump the entire Drumpf.cabal into a convenient deep harbor.
Why don't House Democrats follow through on their sworn oaths?
3
I prefer N. Pelosi's way. Hold them in Contempt immediately and have Security walk them away to a nearby room, locked until they decide to pay a fine or get sentenced. ENOUGH ALREADY with the Dem's. acting like they can only supeona testimony and if I don't "Feel" like it, I don't have to ans. questions or produce evidence. The Dem's. are allowing this sham to go on with everyone. I'm SICK of the WEAKNESS of my party. If the rules have changed to Trump Rules; then play by them! Be sleezy, get me my Roy Cohen!!
3
"Three House committees are investigating ..." I am sooooo tired of reading about investigations that seem to multiply like rabbits, go nowhere, and resolve nothing — or very little.
2
I like the part where trump tweets that he would never say anything inappropriate to a foreign leader... Yeah, sure. Tell that to putin.
Trump wreaks of inappropriateness.
2
"Maybe there’s not that much to the complaint; we can’t know yet". Well if the Times had been paying attention to the news it would know that there is indeed quite a bit to the complaint as it is reported that Trump engaged in a quid pro quo with the Ukranian president involving US military aid in exchange for dirt on Joe Biden's son. Not sure why the Times is soft pedaling this story but if true (and judging by Giuliani's CNN interview it seems to be) this would be a huge abuse of power and quite likely an impeachable offense.
5
To the Speaker of the House.
Ms. Pelosi, how much longer are you going to dither and wring your hands over this deplorable situation, called Donald Trump?
Perhaps you should reread the oath you took to uphold the Constitution, and stop worrying about votes.
Do the right thing, and rid this country of the pariah Trump. Think of the country and the people, not yourself.
DO YOUR JOB!
8
If President Obama said that it was snowing in South Beach in August I would get out my New York gear. That dynamic no longer exists.
The VSG just claimed that he doesn't know who the whistleblower is. Then he claimed that the person was guilty of a partisan attack. Those two statements are seemingly mutually exclusive.
Then he went on to tell a lie about Joe Biden regarding Ukraine. He is also claiming that we have "thousands and thousands" of prisoners of war via ISIS. He also claimed that American media is a joke all over the world.
This very ill man is totally out of control and he is getting worse by the day as his poll numbers decline. The fact that he has the nuclear codes is terrifying.
2
If rules don't matter than nothing does, except the edict of the king and every king has his servants (GOP). You can hang all the window dressing on it you want, but this is where our country is today. "God save the king" will replace our national anthem if we're not careful.
3
Wow. Explosive. From MYT reporters who earned Pulitzer Prizes for their diligent work on the Russia Collusion! How'd that turn out? How did anyone benefit? At least they're still at it! Back to the well! Maybe they'll get more prizes! ... and the nation will continue to (not) benefit from this obsessive destruction of our civic dialogue and social lives overall. Keep digging!
2
To this point we still do not know what the "whistleblower" was concerned about-or even if the complaint was appropriate.
But apparently it involved Ukraine.
The 800 lb gorilla in the room is Hunter Biden's involvement and Joe Biden's threat to the chief prosecutor of that country.
Where is the rest of the story?
2
Are we waiting for Trump to blow up the world before we remove him from office?
11
@Bruce Savin Evidently, yes.
We are not there yet.
Trump represents half of America that matters. They continue to love him. His infractions are completely acceptable to them because what they want can only be accomplished by illegitimate means and by someone like Trump.
What do Trump supporters want? First off an all white nation with others living in their appropriate, sub-human place, feeding off scraps, and gratefully at that. This is non-negotiable. Hence, Hispanics are murderers and rapists, blacks are deserving of incarceration and termination, and others deserving in constant fear of deportation if they act uppity. Trump is delivering this.
Second, unmitigated power of the church to limit education, inquiry, thinking, and expression. Why? Because it works very well in producing their first wish. No amount of evidence that organized religious leaders are hopelessly corrupted and criminal - would change that precisely because it delivers their point number one. Trump is delivering this.
Third, republicans definitely want women dis-empowered; they are a serious threat to white make dominance. Both points one and two are related to this. So if a candidate is going brag about grabbing women - that makes him heroic for them. Trump delivers in spades.
Crying daily about Trump is fine. But the corruption is around us. This is my cousins, neighbors, the dude who has an arsenal in his basement ready for Armageddon who lives six doors away, but lives in polite society.
8
@Kalidan Less than 40% is not "half". And that number is shrinking.
1
Trump and Kushner have successfully, methodically along diehard supporters in Congress destroyed the functions of our government and created a Trump regime. The second coming of Roy Cohn resides in the Oval office and Trump boasts of that relationship with evil.
3
CHANGE THE SENATE!
Without that, nothing happens!
7
A con man isn't the best choice for president after all. Who knew?
9
It feels like we are being held hostage by a maniacal, incompetent man and his team of power-hungry goons. If its money and jet to a neutral country he wants, please give it to him before he damages the country permanently.
4
Law Professor Laurence Tribe, speaks eloquently about the Constitution and our laws regarding the Whistleblower and the laws governing that Office of the President. Those readers who want to be informed look him up.
First, why does the Republican president want to have the Ukraine investigate Joe Biden? Our own FBI can do this. This smells.
Second, why is the Republican president withholding $250 million in funds Congress allocated for the Ukraine, to help them fight Russia?! Whose side is the Republican president on? The democratically elect Ukrainian president or the evil and brutal dictator named, Putin?!
Lastly, withholding funds is extortion! The Republican president is acting like a sleazy politician who won’t do what you need unless you do him a favor first! Extortion is illegal in the United States!
The House Intelligence committee must receive the information the Whistleblower is providing! ITS THE LAW! The Republican president is NOT above the law!
4
because they are afraid of the truth
1
How is Trump’s refusal to promptly nominate people in such key positions, and allow them to be subject to the Senate’s advice and consent, not itself an impeachable offense?
4
Seems rather strange that a private phone call between a US president and the president of another country as implicated by this event, could have been monitored by US intelligence? Easily could have been another country as well, that then reported it to US intel...that would be a bit disconcerting as well. In any case, we assume the call was monitored by someone OR that the president Trump allegedly spoke with leaked something about the conversation. However, it appears there is little concern over this question. Might be worth exploring.
2
Realistic impeachment of presidents seems to be a second-term thing. Thus, if we're stuck with Trump for a second term, the "spade work" now may help to expedite impeachment later.
Regardless, even if Trump loses the next election by a few million votes and, let's say, 50 to 100 electoral college votes, we all should continue to be concerned when he receives tens of millions of popular votes. I suspect that, no matter what he says or does, or what happens in the world, Trump has at least 40 million votes.
The United States is not nearly as great as some might think.
3
The United States was founded on the idea that absolute power should not be vested in one authority. If Congress and the Supreme Court will not check unbridled executive power, we have truly lost our way. This really should keep the GOP up at night because the day will come when Republicans no longer have the key to the executive suite.
If we cannot, as a country, find a collective way to rebalance the tipped scales of power, then our experiment with Democracy is over.
"If society were to design an institution which had the job of finding the society's set of moral principles and determining how they bear in concrete situations, that institution would be sharply different from one charged with proposing policies . . . It would provide an environment conducive to rumination, reflection, and analysis. 'Reason, not Power' would be the motto over its door." - Harry Wellington, as quoted by John Hart Ely in"Democracy and Distrust".
As the GOP runs the tables on the executive, the Senate, and the Supreme Court, we have surely lost our Reason.
4
It just continues to shock me that there has been no push back that has had any real consequence each time this administration disregards the LAW. Just as an red traffic light is not just a suggestion, we supposedly have laws which are supposed to be upheld and not just suggestions that can be disregarded because some power hungry "leader" says so. A previous writer mentioned he felt these outrages from Trump had been" only one a month." If my memory serves me right, even BEFORE his election, they were coming fast and furious ,at least one per week. Now it can be almost a daily occurrence and sometimes, depending on what he is scared or angry about, we get bombarded multiple times a day.
For too many months we have watched this administration stonewall every single attempt to have their misdeeds held accountable Our Constitution specifically set out to prevent this by establishing the three SEPARATE independent branches of government.
This administration is slowly dissolving those boundaries and soon we will be left with one single branch of government. I believe in some countries this is called a Dictatorship?
7
So, let me get this straight, Trump today said:
"Someone should 'look into' Biden family connections to Ukraine" as it could be antithetical (he obviously didn't use that word) to the interests of the US. I suppose the same doesn't apply to Trump family connections with (enter host of countries here), or the various instances of quid pro quo we regularly hear of.
Similarly, I suppose we shouldn't investigate Transportation Secretary Chao (and her family, one of whom is the Senate Majority Leader - who'd likely know what his wife was up to) pertaining to her and her family's self dealings with China, another state somewhat hostile to us?
He's also now saying (along with former acting AG Whitaker) that this is something partisan (a statement explicitly contradicted by the Trump appointed IG). Yet, he doesn't know who the whistleblower was, and "purportedly" hasn't seen the complaint.
Yes, this all makes absolutely complete and total sense.
Serenity now.....
7
Now I've spent hours thinking about this. Would it be for the same reason he won't release his tax returns?
Almost 3 years and only now we are "Urgently Concerned?" There truly is an "all class" opioid epidemic.
5
We Democrats are not ever going to make the Republicans make government function right. Since the 1930s to Bill Buckley, the Koch family and R. Reagan they have told us over and over again that too much government is wrong and is in fact the problem. We are like delusional Don Quixotes charging at windmills in hopes that some how we will fix the Republican windmill once and for all.
8
Exactly what kinds of "checks and balances" can we really count on, given this administration of basically saying no or ignoring subpoenas, etc.? This administration has clearly brought to light the fact that, in reality, Congress cannot do anything about a power-hungry president. It's time to change and institute real laws that puts people refusing to answer subpoenas (like Lewandowski, et. al) directly in prison. Other countries have real laws and enforce them. First thought that comes to mind is Iceland imprisoning all their corrupt bankers during the '08 financial collapse.
Implement real laws in the States and enforce them. Otherwise, it's all a joke.
20
@Alex M. Pruteanu It is a joke, indeed...the joke is on us, the public, and the Republicans are the ones laughing.
1
When will Nancy Pelosi act to begin an impeachment inquiry? How much more damage to our country and its institutions will she allow this President to inflict? Start holding people in contempt of Congress. She looks weak, the Democrats look weak and that's not the worst part; the worst is that Trump and the Republicans now know Democrats can't or won't do anything to stop them no matter how heinous their offenses.
13
Did Trump really bargain using American dollars and military force for his own self-interest. He may not be aware of what he is doing, but apparently others are. How can he be defended? What can his protectors be hiding? I was against impeachment because with the current leadership of the Senate, American values are secondary to political values. But perhaps impeachment may be appropriate if only to show the country the moral fiber of the leadership and members of the U.S. Senate when the time comes for them to vote for or against a corrupt POTUS.
13
@RLW
He's blissfully unaware at times, but the fact that he waited until he could replace Dan Coats with an "acting" flunky might seem to indicate that he knew quite well what he was doing in this case, and that he knew it was wrong as well...
1
The discouraging part of all of this is that this too will pass.
Somehow, he’s created a vacuum, guarded by his staff and his lackeys. All of the accusations seem to go up in smoke and he remains in office.
The reality is that given the makeup of Congress, the irrational adulation from his base, his staff always willing to protect him,
nothing can be done to remove him.
Sad for the country! We are flailing, we are powerless, and we can’t seem to figure out a solution.
12
If the allegations are true the president should be impeached without further ado. This presidency has been a disaster for all of us and the sooner people realize this who have the power to do something about it the better. Every day I am appalled at what is happening- I want our country back first, then I will think about what other changes need to be made. I do know that we can no longer tolerate the behavior that continually comes from this White House and its surrogates( ie, Barr, McConnell, McCarthy, Graham and the Republican Senate.
15
Mr Trump asks "Is anyone dumb enough to think that I would say anything inappropriate?" The question we must all ask is whether anyone is dumb enough to think that Donald J. Trump wouldn't say something inappropriate? We have seen examples already of Trump inappropriately revealing important information to foreign leaders who should not have received that info.. The problem is that he is so ignorant and incompetent,lacking in morality that he is unaware when he is revealing something he shouldn't.
10
It is very clear now - after the behavior of this president continues to go unchecked we could consider ourselves in a "Constitutional Crisis."
But beyond that - beyond whatever happens when we get past Donald Trump and his administration - there will come a time when the balance of power will shift.
And what happens when the Democrats are in charge again?
The Republicans know in their heart of hearts that after this - they can never allow a Democratic majority again. They'll be annihilated and tied up in procedure and refusals to adhere to the law of the land.
Even if Trump is eventually brought to answer for his behavior - it will take many years and by then, bereft of what little intelligence he has now, it will become ridiculous to prosecute him.
And this model is clear. The next Democratic administration has a wide-open door to push through its agenda with no oversight or care.
Michael Cohen said it in his testimony months ago, Trump will never give up the presidency.
He, and his Republican enablers, can't possibly afford to.
4
When the president defies the law and claims he can do so with impunity because he's president, then he's claiming dictatorial powers. When the president's party enables the president in his violations of the law, then it is complicit in the president's attack on our constitution and has betrayed our country. There's a coup in progress, one Trump jokes about every time he talks about staying in office forever. The House cannot let this continue.
There must be consequences for those who break the law, from Trump's lying spokeswomen who violate the Hatch Act, to AG Barr who robs the American taxpayer by drawing his salary to serve at Trump's personal consigliere and attack dog. Every Trump flunky who ignores a Congressional subpoena must pay the consequences. Every administrative official who thinks it's more important to serve Trump than to serve the country should be branded a traitor.
Finally, members of the House of Representatives who are more worried about reelection than about fulfilling the oath they took to protect the constitution should get out of the way and let patriots with courage and a desire to serve the American people take their place. l
Impeach Trump. Clean up the swamp.
9
Trump tweets, paraphrased as: "do you think I'd be stupid enough to say something illegal while others are listening?" Well, YES! His ego allows him to think (a) that everything he does as president is OK, and (b) his past actions show him to be that stupid! One can only hope that the facts of this issue come to light and that they are indeed serious. Hopefully, this will be a bridge too far for Trump's sycophants and they will finally stand up to his malfeasance in office.
6
The consensus opinion amongst most right minded people, is that our Democracy is being man handled by Trump and his sycophants. To what end, who knows, and I do not care to find out. It is high time for Speaker Pelosi to take the gloves off and unleash the power of Congress to it’s fullest extent. Contempt of Congress, fines, jail time, or whatever other tools are available need to instituted. This canard that, “the people never mention impeachment, they care about health care, etc.”, needs to stop. Congress has passed numerous bills that go no where under a Senate controlled by McConnell, who obviously does not care about those issues. It’s way past time to fight fire with fire, for Democracy to survive this onslaught of deceit, stonewalling, and currently, potential treason.
4
I have long held a theory of life called the doing your homework theory. The first time you don’t do your homework, both the teacher and your parents need to come down on you severely. If you don’t have repercussions, pretty soon you, as a student, learn that the world does not actually come to an end. Your grades fall, you end up being thought of in a different way, but the sun rises and sets, you make new, lesser quality of student friends. And, most importantly, you realize as a young child that you can, to a certain extent, get away with defying the world.
The Republicans have realized that a lot of the norms of this country are like homework. They were expectations of a gentlemanly and ordered world. So the Republicans started ignoring them. It made them braver when they saw the perturbation of the Democrats. So now they defy law. Who will stop them when the Justice Department is one of the defiers?
10
The report is about “multiple acts”. Let’s not get distracted. Ukraine may be the least of it. It’s part of a whole. It may be the shiny object used to distract us away from the other actions in the whistleblower’s report.
8
Trump supporters will defend this behavior until the end of time, yet call for every Democrat to be locked up on the basis of a pizza place conspiracy theory.
How in the world did we get to this point of history?
12
Why won't they share? It's simple: It would show that the President is guilty of treason. So, Republicans will do ANYTHING to protect him because it would hurt their chances in 2020. By extension, the ENTIRE GOP is guilty of treason.
9
The only surprise here is that it took so long for someone to realize the danger this president presents to our democracy. He has progressively replaced the many long-term, experienced members of the Washington bureaucracy with ignorant, egotistical anti-government puppets, seriously impairing the ability of the White House (and to a lesser extent, the congress) to function. Meanwhile, he has "buddied up" to the leaders of the most dangerous countries (North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia) and ignored or insulted our most trusted friends (Japan, Western Europe). It is time for BOTH HOUSES of the congress to seriously investigate what is happening... and don't let "Moscow Mitch" get in the way; he is using his position to ensure that he will be one of the richest men in the world when he retires (can't be too soon)!
6
Does anyone think his base cares about his lawlessness? I think not. The only thing conservatives, and I say that tongue in cheek, care about is winning. Russia, nor North Korea are enemies because Trump says they are not. Iran is because Trump says it is. The only real enemies the Trump base sees are the accursed liberals. Americans hating Americans is the sad state of our country today. I am afraid this is no new condition. It has always been this way but the rise of talk radio, cable news, unlimited campaign contributions and the internet have taken it to a dangerous level. If we can’t get this toxic brew under control we will lose our democracy.
3
This stonewalling would not be happening if the Justice Department went about its duties independent of the White House, as it is supposed to do. Yet with Bill Barr as AG, a man who believes executive power is near absolute, Justice is providing legal counsel to Maguire, as well as all those who have been subpoenaed by Congress, to ignore the summons or go to the hearing and act like a complete buffoon (Lewandowski).
Nowhere in the Consistution is it written or even averred that the President is beyond liability for civil or criminal misbehavior. Yet Barr asserts that -- according to him -- Presidents do not have to be hounded by investigations, much less charges of malfeasance because ti do so would distract the President from his official duties.
The obvious hole in this logic, besides its lack of Constitutional precedent, is that Trump is distracted from his duties every day. Rather than governing, he tweets. Rather than leading, he prevaricates and stumbles. Rather than reaching out to all Americans, he tries to divide and estrange us one from another.
The coup d'etat in this is that he now has a Supreme Court, whose two recent appointments share Barr's notion of an unbridled office of the President. This is the underlying, and momentumental, crisis of the day.
6
Are Americans evil, distracted, or stupid?
The trump administration has been a monumental disgrace for 2.5 years, with countless highly credible corruption, selfish, shallow, childish behavior by the president, and continued economic doldrums (at best) for the poor and middle class. Yet trump in enjoying his highest job approval numbers yet.
What gives America. What do you see that I don't? What don't you see that I do?
3
If Trump is monetizing intel while he is still in office, imagine what he’ll do when he leaves and Nancy does not put him jail as she has promised.
4
@Opinioned!I've been saying that for years. With Ivanka and Jared and probably every other member of his family privy to all intelligence information, the Trumps will be able to undermine whoever follows Trump for decades.
2
If Republicans, especially in the Senate fail to act to curb Trump after the full scope of his treason become public, then we the people must take action. We must take to the streets and shatter the veneer of normalcy that is hiding the rotten core of what is happening to our way of life. I say we start by going where every GOP Senator lives and works daily until them hear our anguish, louder than the money from their corrupt, greedy donors. This is no time to sit in the sidelines.
How will we explain this inaction to our children. This is like 1936 in Germany. WE are complicit if we ignore this.
5
"Is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially ‘heavily populated’ call?"
Who would be dumb enough to believe that he wouldn't? His entire life is continuous stream of inappropriate statements and behavior.
2
The president may have insisted on a quid pro quo agreement with Ukraine.
The White House doesn't want to share a report that may describe this quid pro quo arrangement.
We should not be surporised by this.
Let's get past this "Shocked! I'm shocked!" posturing and move on to the meat of the matter.
3
terrifying. and no one can say we didn't see it coming.
7
Trump is a real estate developer, but someone needs to tell him AMERICA IS NOT FOR SALE.
3
Something to hide. So much to hide.
So much time wasted in denial.
This is not what a good leader would be doing instead of a proper job.
5
Time for the whistleblower to go straight to the Press.
11
@Dan
To the useless House Democrats.
EVERYTIME I have ever heard the “why would I do that” defense it has been a lie. Honest and responsible people immediately acknowledge the accusation, the accuser, and then they actively cooperate as BOTH sides present their side of the story. NOT TRUMP.
If you’ve ever had a position where you have to hold people accountable the “why would I do that” defense is a clear sign that you’re hearing a lie.
4
This kind of thing is not going to stop until some people are held in contempt of Congress and locked up in the basement of the Capitol. I can think of a few folks who should do the perp walk starting with Bill Barr, John McGann and Corey Lewandowski.
This kind of thing will continue until the Congress gets some spine and exerts its authority. Refusal to answer a summons or subpoena to testify before Congress or refusal to tunover requested documents qualifies in my book as contempt and an obstruction of justice. This whole thing stinks.
And yes, Mr. Trump, we do think you would make inappropriate comments in a heavily populated call and we don't think you put the USA first.
Start the impeachment now whether or not any Republicans ignore their Constitutional duty to perform oversight!! Because if you think this is bad now, Trump will shred our democracy if he wins a second term.
5
It is time for a new House Majority Leader who understands what the words "urgent concern" mean.
2
If the democrats somehow win in 2020, even by a large margin, does anyone really expect trump to admit defeat, quietly turn over the keys to the White House and fade away? He and the republicans and his toadies will be fighting for their very lives. Many trying to avoid prison. Documents will be shedded. Records will be destroyed. trump will probably stop at nothing to overturn the election. 30,000,000 supporters will leave their farms and idle factories and march in the streets. It’s not gonna be good.
3
" “Is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially ‘heavily populated’ call."
The truth is, he generally says something inappropriate practically every time he opens his mouth.
2
I cannot imagine the gumption and fortitude required to stick your head into a lions mouth. Thomas Moore and Jack Ryan characters are alive and well in the Trump era. Finally, someone with a spine-of-steel and immune to evil spokeout about corruption. Others that have shielded Trump are now on notice to observe what a true American is and does.
2
He is and always has been a bought and paid for operative for ANYONE foreign or domestic that will stroke his ego, bank account, gild his CV or simply allow him to put that god awful TRUMP logo on a building.
To those that are stupid enough to think he has the interests of the American people at heart, know this, he is currently selling everything you have for VERY short gain--not our gain at all, his.
5
"Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it."
We must forcefully repudiate Trump and his Republican henchmen who are debasing our Constitution. Hold them in contempt, put them in jail, withhold funding, but stand up these criminals in the White House and Senate.
4
It is time: Impeach Trump.
Then let Republicans demonstrate to the whole world what a feckless, unprincipled bunch they are.
6
HOW HOW HOW Can this not be the impeach moment? How can we tolerate any more corruption while waiting to “gather facts”. This is ridiculous. Bring him down enough already. IMPEACH
3
We all know Trump, at his best, is a shameless grifter with no values or moral compass, at worst he is a treasonous criminal. Regardless of who or what the whistle-blower's complaint turns out to be about, we all know Trump was out to benefit himself. This is a guy that would sell his own son on eBay if it was to his advantage.
4
"... the system isn’t designed to deal with a situation in which a hazard may come from the president himself."
Founding fathers: "Ooops."
3
Everyone keeps talking about voting him out.... everyone is assuming that your constitutional elections will hold.
Trump is now so emboldened in his lawlessness, what makes you think that he will respect any election result? Even worse, what if America is now going to be subject to sham elections such as were introduced in Russia in it's fledgling stage of Democracy. After all, Trump has trampled on all the other constitutional institutions in the US and followed Putin's playbook in so many other areas.
Trump doesn't care what people find out about him, he is like a bull in a china shop... thumbing his nose at laws, ethics, and the inconvenient truth, and relies on a stream of state propaganda coming from Fox News to keep his 35-40% base behind him. All he needs is a slight bump by some foreign entity, whom HE INVITED on National TV ( George Stephanopoulos interview) to help him in the election....whom he bribed/threatened knowing full well that his words would be noted by intelligence officials (phone calls with Ukraine) and then he proceeds to start the propaganda stream....." How does anyone think he'd be so stupid to do that, when he knows intelligence is listening"....must be fake news.
What happens next may well be the last gasping breath of the U.S. Constitution. And the rest of the Free World will be watching and waiting for Putin's gaze to fall on their Democracies.
4
I continue to be amazed that we persistently behave as if we aren't under an authoritarian neofascist regime that blatantly breaks the law and issues obvious lies to control the narrative which is readily embraced by at least a third of our citizenry who would follow their leader anywhere. All one has to do is ask the simple question, why is this man still in office after all that is known about him and his dealings to grasp the grim reality in which we find ourselves. All the well-written analysis that is fit to print of the latest debacle isn't going to change our situation. The first step is to embrace the truth and act accordingly!
5
Another great illustration by the NYT illustrators!
1
This administration is getting away with any more obstruction of justice - YET AGAIN. And on top of that he is also - LET"S FACE IT - getting away with treason.
It is time to have a new Congressional Majority Leader who will stop stalling on removing him from office.
2
There is but one Constitutional remedy for a president who is a hazard to the country.
We are waiting for Congressional Democrats to have enough courage to get on with it. It is no longer about electoral politics, its about putting on your big-boy pants and doing the right thing. If the Republicans stonewall in the face of (even more) clear evidence, then they will have to face the electoral consequences. But first, Dems must get on with it.
When Trump was elected I remember telling a friend about another friend becoming physically sick when she heard about the election results. The friend that I was talking to said that her reaction is "just silly." Guess what? the friend who got sick is now better, but my other friends is being treated for severe anxiety. Talk to a therapist and have them tell you about the anxiety they hear from their clients.
3
When will Congress finally define what constitutes a "high crime and misdemeanor" and at what point in this latest episode and other past egregious episodes can those terms bcome unequivocal reasons for impeachment? Oh, I forgot, the Senate has to be in agreement with a majority vote and will not support the term even if there is irrefutable evidence to.the contrary.
Trump is becoming more and more drunk on his power as he counts on the support of Barr, McDonnell and other loyalist Republicans to ensure his reelecton victory. When will the country cease to be exhausted by the next episodes just as we were with the results of the now somewhat forgotten Mueller report? This latest headline can be expected by this cynical voter to become yet another "unprecedented " event without resolution as we watch helplessly as Trump unabashedly slithers his way around the truth. He must be writing love letters to Barr and McDonnell thanking them for their support to protect him and ensure his 2020 reelection no matter if he has not even been completely "exonerated " for obstructing justice and so many other alleged crimes.
5
@HMP
Impeach for the fun of it.
The president is not a check on the presidential power, Congress is. Duh. If next president is more virtuous than Donald Trump, (s)he'd reinstate Congress. Environmental policies should not be rolled back and forth like a rolling pin. The last A in DACA should stand for Act. It is the twenty-first century, we live in speed of light. Let's wait two years for a court ruling on national emergency, shall we?
3
Impeach now.
9
The current system is actually build on the personal integrity of the individual occupying the highest office, the POTUS. Never has anyone like Trump occupied the office before 2017, never.
Someone earlier mentioned that while employed at the White House, federal law was not absolute, it was simply something to negotiate, to debate, to take. Law, in its current form is not a rule to follow, just something to argue about, assuming you have the resources to carry the argument to the SCOTUS.
Incredible that there is no absolute, or there appears to be none available to punish someone who breaks the law and refuse to acknowledge it.
Can it be possible? YES
3
I just read SIEGE, by Michael Wolff, and the general opinion expressed was that DJT is more like a child than a man, totally out of touch with reality. As a result, it is hard to view him as capable of any kind of strategy, good or bad. The Constitution doesn't offer any advice for dealing with this kind of danger to democracy, so the election in 2020 becomes the only avenue we have left. I hope everyone responding to this NYT article will VOTE.
6
Never fear, America, the GOP members of the intelligence committees will get their thoughts and prayers right on this.
5
There is no avenue to stop the obliteration of our endangered democracy. I can think only of the demonstrations against the Viet Nam war. We watched them nightly on TV. Until the people take to the streets,...[think Hong Kong] all power remains in the hands of Trump. The mistake is to believe that anything will change without a demonstration of huge impact. I do not see that happening.
6
He ask is anyone dump enough to think he would say anything huh yes he has and will not allow Congress or the country to know what he says.
The absolute worst part of this all, is that most people know that crimes are being committed in the name of our country, just as people in the early 30's in Germany knew that was happening. We are now experience the helpless of the average citizen in doing something about it. We are seeing how wrong it was to paint the average German of those days as indolent and careless.
When I ask what to do, I am told "vote". But when I read in the paper how endangered our actual voting system is, how prone to interruption from the very people with whom the heads of power in our country are chumming around with, I only feel despair.
Furthermore, in my state, Florida, next year there will be no vote on senators or governor. And these men, both of our senators and our governor are loud and proud supporters of the president and speaker of the senate, fully knowing about the crimes being committed.
So vote, yes, but not with much credence in the power of that vote.
6
Its the constant hiding of all info that is bothersome. If he is innocent then no problem, if not hide. By his actions, he is seen as guilty of all charges.
Its also very disturbing he is ignoring all of the traditions and mechanisms we expect to protect our democracy. The congress (senate) has joined him in this conspiracy and it seems the SC also.
8
He was the same 9 year old self-inflated bully when he was running for office. How he got elected questions the very heart of the democratic process. History has seen the public make dangerous decisions about elected leaders and this one is no different. One hopes repairs can be done and sanity restored to the United States soon.
12
@Frankster
The importance of education includes teaching children that magic is not real. There lay the real heart of darkness the GOP has foisted upon us.
1
With regard to the final sentences, yes, we need to vet our presidential candidates more carefully, to ensure to the extent possible that they will act in good faith and in accordance with the law. Bombast should not substitute for competence.
With regard to the national security concern in question, perhaps it is so beyond the pale that Maguire felt he did not want to take sole responsibility for handling it, and used the Justice Department as a security blanket. Maybe this concern is such a hot potato that it motivated Dan Coats to finally resign from a job that couldn't have been very pleasant, and also take his deputy with him.
With regard to sharing the information with Congress, while I trust intelligence committee leaders Adam Schiff, Richard Burr, and Mark Warner to handle the intelligence appropriately, there is also Devin Nunes. He is not someone with whom I would share secrets. It is a failure of Republican leadership to place such an irresponsible person in such a critical position.
One final comment: Given Trump's pattern of outrageous behavior, the default assumption is that Trump committed the acts in question. It could have been someone else in the administration.
6
@CH " It could have been someone else in the administration."
You do realize the complaint was made regarding phone conversations BY THE PRESIDENT, yes?
5
We are teetering on having a non-function democracy with the inability and unwillingness of congress to act on matters large and small to secure our nation. Like climate change - we will do nothing until it swamps our shores and it is too late.
13
His father spent a great deal of time teaching his young son to cover his tracks and to avoid leaving fingerprints and other evidence at the scenes of crimes.
And the son was attentive to the teachings of his father, and they have turned out to be one of the few things he is really good at.
6
... he is really good at and proud of.
1
As a matter of law, whistle blowing does not extend to complaints about the President's conduct of foreign affairs. I think the Attorney General and the Justice Department are likely to understand that. Let us hope so. After all, no one is above the law. That includes whistle blowers.
3
@David lange Is asking a foreign government for dirt to help win a US election still foreign affairs?
1
@david lange
So, your main concern is with someone reporting that the president has been extorting the Ukrainian president, and not the actual extortion? Alrighty, then.
3
@david lange
The IG found it to be a urgent concern. The law states clearly that this means the DNI shall give it to the Congress. There is no provision for the corrupt criminal AG to intercede and interpret the clear language of the law. The word shall has the legal meaning that the word indicates, you shall do whatever it is said you shall do, period.
Many fields of professional work rely on this particular legal interpretation of the word. Every lawyer knows this.
2
Is the dividing line between a democracy and a dictatorship narrowing? We are really in dangerous waters and I fear not only that many do not see it, but truly do not care.
14
It took over six months and more than 80 pages of detailed personal data and history to get a security clearance. I have been given hours of security training emphasizing the critical importance of protecting classified data for the protection of our national interests from the many, many foreign and domestic adversaries who seek our destruction.
Meanwhile, our President tweets classified high resolution photographs and casually reveals plans and makes unilateral promises to foreign adversaries with no advice or control from those who know better like the state department or the DoD.
Trump is NOT executing his responsibility to protect the United States. He is undermining that protection.
20
As an American citizen, If I am going to keep my faith to American democracy and System, I expect a aboslute total overhauling of how System works, Following statement proved to be true for Trump presidency.
"In other words, the system isn’t designed to deal with a situation in which a hazard may come from the president himself."
IF we cannot have any power over president , why not future presidents uses same tactics Trump used. What is going to stop them.
Forget Trump one second, American presidency mut not harm the American system.
4
The Executive branch of our government is not above the law. Why are those in the legislative and judicial afraid to approach the deceits and outright criminal actions of this president? What makes Trump so scary that no one will act? Any other president probably would have been investigated, with results. We have multiple investigations now that are going nowhere. Why?
We have a constitution and many laws against corruption and criminal actions by a president but it can't be that ALL of them are too fuzzy to act on.
12
I find the obsequiousness of the Republicans toward Trump very disturbing. As I consider my life and the jobs I have had it seems that leaving a few based on ethical considerations was just something all of us must face. For most of my life I lived paycheck to paycheck so financial worries were a constant. But twice I needed to trust that staying in those jobs was too morally wrong for me. There comes a time when an ethical person must say enough is enough. When will this time come for wealthy and powerful Republicans I wonder.
11
That moment will only come when it is politically fatal not to act. I don’t see that happening anytime soon as long as their base remains committed to their demands which have nothing to do with and are often in conflict with maintaining a Constitutionally strong democracy.
5
"....a promise he is said to have made to a foreign leader during a phone call..."
Even if true, what are the chances Trump would keep such a promise?
3
It's been obvious for years that Trump is corrupt and corruptible. It's been obvious for years that the Republican Party serves only corporate interests and billionaires. Allowing these two entities to be in power has resulted in huge damage to our republic.
And it's by no means clear that we aren't still on our way to becoming an autocracy: the illegitimate Supreme Court may well rule in Trump's favor, and the corrupt, unrepresentative Senate will not impeach.
As one reader noted here, we realized our democracy was sustained by the most fragile of threads: a reliance that civil servants and those in power would be mostly good people, trying to do right and being truthful.
But when that is not the case, when every level of government has been filled with corrupt, dishonest grifters, then our democracy will fall.
The society that produced and enriched or encouraged all of these actors - Rupert Murdoch, Fox News, Fox viewers, Netflix watchers, Trump, McConnell, Koch brothers, Wilbur Ross, Betsy DeVos, Ben Carson, Facebook, Twitter, Google - is a society that deserves to fall.
13
Of all the shocks and horrors of the Trump White House, none has disheartened me more than the number of federal employees, like Joseph Maguire, Director of National Intelligence, who have chosen to follow Trump rather than the law. I hope, when all this is over, they will not be forgotten or forgiven for betraying their country in time of need.
27
A fundamental question is whether Congress can even remove an acting official. Since the DNI is acting and never confirmed, can they be impeached?
Clearly the DNI broke the law and there is just cause for removal. If they were confirmed, they could be impeached.
If acting directors cannot be impeached, Congress needs to fix that ASAP.
17
Can you spell coverup? C-O-V-F-E . . ..
17
We don’t need a 6-12 month investigation by a special council, or a House committee. Start drawing up the articles of impeachment. Nancy?
12
Deep Throat, where are you when we need you?
12
@SA - All the rightwing soldiers falling on their swords for a corrupt president who will only throw them under the bus. Scary.
You'd think there'd be at least one patriot who will do the right thing and bring clear evidence of trump's lawbreaking, BYPASSING the trump/fox obstruction machine. It only takes one!
2
“Dmitri, tell Vladimir I will have more flexibility after the election...”
Barack Obama, on a hot mike he was unaware of.
Indicating the election was fixed with Russian help and that he knew he’d win? The Left would never stop laughing! But now...
2
scary thoughts - especially the last link in the editorial
3
Y'all misspelled "The president must resign or be impeached" so badly that I almost missed it.
5
It's clear that both Trump and Barr must be impeached.
17
Where’s Nancy, and where’s Chuck?
Hmmm, no answer.
7
If you listen carefully, you can hear Putin laughing.
12
Recommend that everyone listen or read “How Democracies Die”... it answers MANY of the questions and concerns addressed by people posting to this forum.
Buckle up!
11
Where is Edward Snowden now that we really need him?
1
@Dr. OutreAmour He's on his interwebs book tour.
Isn't it time to do away with Barr?Perjury,abuse of power,justice
repeatedly obstructed.This seems like a job for Adam Schiff and then Barry Berke deposes Barr.Lock him up.
11
To answer the question "Why won't the Administration share it with Congress", the answer is simple. They have something to hide, and neither hell nor high water will make them reveal it. They know Republicans in Congress will shield them. They know most Americans don't care as long as it does not affect their pocketbooks.
13
The Trump administration will fight any investigation to the bitter end—the “end” being exoneration by the SCOTUS. Nancy knows this.
How much are you willing to spend on court cases?
1
Do you know how I can tell that Mr. President has done something really naughty?
I open the Fox News web site, and find Hilary as their top news story.....#dogwhistle
17
Whenever you're ready, Speaker Pelosi.
12
Edward Snowden, come home. Your country needs you.
4
Madame Pelosi, it's time.
10
Bill Barr is Trump's Enabler.
6
Send in the military!
I'm so sick of this.
9
Looks like the Constitution is a fair-weather Constitution. When it really counts our government is powerless, politics come first. How much more will the people take before the house of cards collapses?
All branches of government have been corrupted, the whole Trump administration is accountable to no one. In reality, we have a rudderless government. The Democrats are helpless and spineless.
11
@ARL
Remember Trump talking about draining the swamp? Turns out that he is wallowing in the swamp and in the process making it deeper.
1
"Maybe there’s not that much to the complaint; we can’t know yet."
The Inspector General used the words 'credible' and 'urgent'. There must be something to the complaint.
13
For the good of the country, if the complaint is not expeditiously turned over to Congress, I hope it is leaked to the press.
17
Remember when not releasing his tax returns were a serious concern. Seems like another lifetime
13
@AVIEL And he's still fighting subpoenas. The truth is there, and I surmise it's the russian oligarchs' co-signatures on his Deutsche Bank loans, making it CRYSTAL CLEAR he's on the hook to putin.
3
Trump and his advisors operate on the theory that a president has extralegal authority to do whatever he or she wants. If neither the legislature nor the judiciary do something to stop him from acting on that theory, then the precedents will have been set, effectively putting the office of the president above the law. Trump’s cynical and tyrannical presidency has demonstrated that the limits of executive authority, for 230 years, have been nothing more than a gentleman’s agreement.
11
But you realize that Trump would not tolerate a successor Democratic president enjoying that same immunity from prosecution by a Republican Congress, for instance.
That’s why he is laying groundwork to be accepted as a no-term-limits president.
1
Trump ignores the rule of law
7
Where is Mitt Romney?
2
@joan Still looking for those golden plates.
@joan
Shuffling along in the same stale old shoes.
Myth is towing the loyalty line, loyalty, that is, to the republican party.
OHMIGOSH!!!!! Yet ANOTHER horrendous Trump thing no one has the first clue how to address. Where is the OUTRAGE ..... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ....
4
For crying out loud Democrats, do something NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
13
@Peggy
You should realize that even if the house voted articles of impeachment a complicit senate is most unlikely to convict. So that is the dilemma we are in. You can help by voting the corrupt Devin Nunes and Kevin McCarthy out of office.
1
They are!!!! Good grief, we have laws and procedures. Please be patient.
1
Is the US dealing with a "Manchurian Candidate" ?
16
The never-Trumpers grasp at every new leak as a way to undo the 2016 election. Now they just call it whistleblowing.
4
@Conservative Democrat
I'm surprised anyone even refers to the 2016 fiasco anymore as a legitimate election.
1
Except THIS time it’s an Intelligence analysts who heard Trump during a recorded phone call! Intelligence records to keep everyone honest! READ the article!
1
"the system isn’t designed to deal with a situation in which a hazard may come from the president himself."
Disagree. We have a clause in the Constitution that protects us from this very hazard. Impeachment.
1144
@cherrylog754 But that isn't possible given the senate we have. It's a great idea and I wish we could impeach, but we can't. It may certainly be worthwhile to start impeachment proceedings in order to obtain information...but it won't lead to impeachment. The best defense is to vote Trump out. Or...he may immolate himself, which is a distinct possibility.
51
@cherrylog754
We are witnessing the latest instance of the way in which our reverence for the constitution works against the rule of law. It is clear that the people who wrote the constitution (even though they must have known personally people utterly without honor) decided that the chances that someone as nihilistic as Mitch McConnell would assume a position of decisive power were so slim that they need not provide for that dreadful possibility. They got it wrong. And we are on the edge of a constitutional crisis as a result.
61
@alabreabreal
Absolutely yes, IMPEACH! Even if only in the House, let Trump have that blight on his record.
How many incumbents have run for reelection after they've been found guilty by the House? Ha! Trump deserves what he has coming: remembrance as an abhorrent leader.
43
“the extent to which our constitutional system assumes and relies on a president with a modicum of national fidelity, and decent judgment and reasonableness.”
Our Founders assumed too much, that's for damn sure. We need to fix that, as best we can, by requiring some experience in governing along with college degrees in governance. The world and our American society has grown way too complex to hire amateurs.
4
"Why won’t the administration share it with Congress?"
Is that a trick question?
12
It’s like the horror movie cliche when the terrorized young victim learns that the phone call was coming from inside the house.
9
Isn't Congress tired by now of the Trump administration ignoring every single one of its legitimate requests? Five months after its release and no one in Congress has seen an un-redacted Mueller report!
It's patently obvious that this administration has no respect for Congress or the rule of law. It' equally obvious that Trump has never met a dictator he doesn't wish to emulate. The man's everyday conduct demonstrates he's unfit for office and, if anyone ever takes the time to expose it, is mostly likely treasonous.
12
To answer Mr. Trump's question: yes.
3
So many comments about the threat of Trump becoming a dictator in America with the help of dictators such as Putin. Do you honestly think that if Trump became a dictator with the help of Putin, that Putin would let him maintain that position? He'd eat Trump alive before Trump knew what hit him.
4
The Trump/DOJ modus operandi: "I'm not gonna do it, and you can't make me." And with the Trump/McConnell courts packing, they're probably right.
9
I want to sit across the kitchen table from Richard Burr, from Susan Collins, from Chuck Grassley, from Jim Lankford, from Lisa Murkowski, from Ben Sasse and simply ask, "do you trust that this whistleblower report to IG Atkinson is being attended to with the utmost integrity, and the utmost attention to the rule of law and established interagency process? If so, can you assure your constituents, and the American people, that such trust is well placed?"
7
@BB
“I want to sit across the kitchen table from Richard Burr, from Susan Collins, from Chuck Grassley, from Jim Lankford, from Lisa Murkowski, from Ben Sasse...”
Well, I suggest you run for the US Senate.
2
@Conservative Democrat
Touche! Would you chip in $25 to get me started? Conversely, I do think that plain old citizens (like me) all too seldom have the
opportunity to eyeball (any of our elected) leaders in a tightly focused, non-formal but
powerfully personal setting, to get at the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
@BB
I'm sure the aforementioned are being highly compensated to say such trust is well placed, but I doubt they would ever stoop down off their thrones to the kitchen-table level to say it.
"A whistle-blower’s report has alarmed the intelligence agencies’ watchdog. Why won’t the administration share it with Congress?"........
WHY?.............
Dictators, real or wannabe, don't feel they have to answer to anyone........Donald Trump is no different..........
9
If rules don't matter than nothing does, except the edict of the king and every king has his servants (GOP). You can hang all the window dressing on you want, but this is where our country is now. "God save the king" will replace our national anthem if we're not careful.
7
Nixon depended upon CIA and FBI agents, former and current, at the Watergate break-in. America hasn't learned anything.
3
I wonder if what Trump said is worse than Obama telling the Russian foreign minister to tell Putin he will have more flexibility after the election.
@Dady
At least Obama was not a liar was gentlemanly and principled enough and never came under the spell of Putin.
1
Far worse, and you know that.
1
We must make sure that the Democratic candidate wins in 2020. Vote for Democrats up and down the ticket. Otherwise, Trump (and his sycophants) will destroy our nation in a second term.
5
I suspect that trump did Putin a big favor with regard to Ukraine.
4
Could this whistleblower complaint be the reason Dan Coats resigned?
4
“Is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially ‘heavily populated’ call. I would only do what is right anyway, and only do good for the USA!”
Sounds like...
"Dad, my friends and I did not leave PBR cans in the back seat and I have no idea where the scrape on the car door came from."
5
When is this going to stop?
3
Our country is held hostage to Trump and his administration...do we need a revolution to make it right?
8
Our Founders certainly thought so...
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
(AND NOW FOR THE GOOD PART)
--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
2
To: Mitch McConnell and each and every Republican member of Congress
"Have you no sense of decency?"
Have you forgotten the oath of office you took? ". . . I WILL support and defend the Constitution of the United States against ALL enemies, foreign and domestic . . . and that I WILL well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter." (emphasis added)
9
November 3rd, 2020 can't come soon enough.
7
The Republican party is behaving like a criminal organization and Donald Trump is behaving like a mafia boss. The laws are clear and the cover-ups are obvious.
8
@W. Lynch Just like Al Capone, maybe his tax evasion will be his downfall. We will see them eventually. Thank God for whistle blowers.
3
The plot thickens.
1
The word "shall" for Trump means to ignore or fight. If you are a crook and you know it, you do everything you can to direct attention away from your actions. When this approach fails, you lie even more and then step on our laws and Constitution. So Trump is going to withhold all requested information from the Democrats under the lie that it is all privileged. And he has Barr to defend his actions. This is mob or thug behavior. But we can expect no more when we allowed him to have the presidency. If we do not want another Trump or worse, we had better create vetting standards for our highest office in the land.
3
Yet another breathless editorial speculating about.... a vague report of someone lodging a complaint about (potentially dangerous) behavior by POTUS. This reminds me of the eve of the Muller Report release. Seven NYT articles of speculation... three opeds and they all said the same thing.... Nothing! Wait until there is substance please.
1
And here’s comes the final nail in the coffin for...the Democrats and the press. Trump is way too slippery to be done in by a bunch of bureaucrats. Don’t you guys get that yet? This will just give him the chance to cry “witch hunt” and “fake news” into 2020.
Laurence Tribe said today
"This isn't why we fought a revolution against a king - to have a tyrant."
11
So let me get this straight.
No one here finds it even the slightest bit illegal that "a member of the intelligence community" has knowledge of the contents of a phone call between two presidents ?
Why no, of course not... ...because leftist ideologues believe that ends justify means, and if the end is to depose the president then anything goes, including illegal surveillance of the president.
Again.
And count on this Editorial Board - the same one that willfully suppressed exculpatory information from a hit job piece on Justice Kavanaugh - to give us the whole story.
Right ?
1
@Objectivist As Trump himself has stated recently, it's standard practice for intelligence agents on both sides to monitor phone calls between heads of state. It's not like somebody bugged the president without his knowledge.
1
Shall means has to (as in the Bible). So we know the Trump administration and the GOP are circling the wagons around this corrupt, incompetent President.
Wonder what they all have to hide!!??
5
Time for an Arab spring here in the US.
Time for the entire citizenry to take to the streets, mobilize, refuse to go to work until
the criminal Donald trump is removed from the
WH and faces charges against him.
8
Barr is enabling the destruction of the country. He needs to be under investigation for actions verging on treason.
6
Are we really here? This President? His lies, actions, family? Fortunately I have the means to move to Siena and retire. Sorry for the rest of America, NRA lovers: you asked for it.
3
President Trump, if you have nothing to hide, why do you expend such effort to hide virtually everything?!
We have become a banana republic under this administration.
4
One woe doth tread upon another’s heels, so fast they follow. Is this the 452nd abuse of the office by Trump or the 453rd? I’ve lost count. And, aye, there is the rub. #Impeach
4
Five will get you ten that this is actually meant to distract us from coming revelations on Russiagate and the role that "non-partisan" intelligence agencies have played in ginning up and promoting that anti-Constitutional farce.
We have seen this acted out before every time a new damning revelation was about to break. The MSM is fed a leak, another shiny object to throw in the air and say "Look here not over there!".
Who is running this miserable sideshow? The people no longer trust their government. The government no longer answers to the people. The hired employees of the voters rape and pillage the various coffers, wildly and crassly enriching themselves. Paid corporate hawkers influence votes in the halls of congress. And now we've hired a professional shyster to run the whole show and the entire circus caravan has gone off in the ditch. I don't know how this thing ever gets back on track.
4
Robert Mueller redux? This move is patently illegal. If I were the whistle-blower, I'd call the New York Times.
3
And tonight, chapter two unfolds, taking place in Kyiv. We already know Trump ordered Giuliani to go to Ukraine to to get dirt on Hunter Biden. Evrerything about Trump confirms -- this is just the kind of stuff he'd do. He probably asked Zelensky to come up with some kind of sham case against Biden's son -- in return for god knows what.
In short, Trump tried to bribe a foreign official for a political favor -- an impeachable offense if there ever was one (not that there haven't been others). What else could have motivated a patriotic intelligence officer to run straight to the IG? No wonder Barrr refuses to cooperate with Congress. The jig is up and they know it. When will Republicans wake up and smell the impeachment coffee?
7
It appears that this matter is related to the former Vice President attempting to influence the vulnerable Ukrainian government to give favorable business deals to his son. As these attempts involved the highest levels of that government it is obvious that personal intervention by senior White House officials may have been necessary to pursue the investigation.
Will the Times print the rest of the story?
Forget a Climate Change March- every single person in this Nation should be in DC protesting this tyrannical government.
5
If this was Obama or Hillary The Right would be sharpening the pitchforks. Time for the Dems to grow a spine.
5
I grew up in the Deep South during the 1960s and use to think that about a third of Americans were racists.
Now I see that the facts don't matter to them, either, so long as they can thumb their noses at someone else ("those libs").
Talk about cutting off your own nose to spite your face.
We need to take our government back from this group and right the ship.
5
The question I have is why doesn't Joe Biden come out and address these allegations that he and/or his family were corrupted with money from a Ukrainian energy company and China. Its been out there for a whilen. Why doesn't any reporter ask him? He has been totally silent. Strange.
just 33 responses as of 9:04pm EDT shows that people are pretty much numb from this nonsense.
They know that Pelosi, Collins, Nunes, Pence, Graham, Schiff, Romney, Nadler, will quiver and dither, shimmy and shake and quake and ultimately do nothing other than wait for 2020 to decide things for them.
1
I hate Trump. But I wish you would have editorialised about the loss of billions of birds instead.
4
This whole thing is ridiculous. Let’s assume the President “promised” the Ukrainian leader that he would send him nuclear weapons. How on earth would the President deliver on that promise “secretly”? Everyone in the WhiteHouse, the Pentagon, etc etc would have to be complicit in a “secret” delivery. Would it happen? No!! Of course not. And whether it’s nuclear weapons, money, trade benefits, or whatever, nothing could ever happen without the entire “deep state” knowing.... and stopping it!
And frankly, I don’t care what President Trump promises other leaders like the North Korean, the Russian, the Chinese, as long as they stupidly act on a “secret” promise that benefits the United States and anyone whith half a brain knows can’t be fulfilled “secretly”!
No, this is about politics again,
not national security. Schiff thinks he finally has something he can use to impeach Trump. And of course it’s “urgent” to him. The election is coming up.
And the guy that reported the conversation, he’s probably a never-Trumper.
Founder’s biggest gaffe? Anyone can be elected President!
2
Congress can't be trusted.
Congress - do your job!
Democrats - grow a backbone!
We are depending on YOU to uphold the rule of law.
2
I am wondering if this could be a planned out form of distraction and an attempt to enhance his claims of a media biased against him.
Here is how it goes:
This is all phony.
This whistleblower and political appointees are all part of it.
It is an invention...something that sounds vaguely serious but turns out to be nothing...and when this finally comes out, after weeks of the media and democrats talking about a corrupt and lawless president, he will be truly exonerated...in this matter.
I can hear him already.
"More fake news from the liberal media just like the Mueller investigation and all the rest of the investigations..all political attempts by antiAmerican democrats to discredit me when all I am really doing is trying to make America great again".
And with this one brush stroke, wipe away all the man's legal troubles from the minds of way too many gullable voters.
Joseph Maguire should be thrown in jail for no less than 60 days, unpaid.
After he skips a mortgage payment or two, his vision should improve.
2
"Is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially ‘heavily populated’ call."
Oh, I don't know. You were dumb enough to continue talking about border wall security features after being told not to, and that was in front of a bunch of TV cameras. You were dumb enough to ask a refugee where her parents were 10 seconds after she told you they'd been killed. So ... yeah, I don't have a problem believing you'd make this kind of mistake.
4
“Is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially ‘heavily populated’ call. I would only do what is right anyway, and only do good for the USA!”
Yo Donald! I’m pretty smart, and pretty well informed, and I TOTALLY believe you would do that! And that you DID do that! And that you did it without a scintilla of thought about what is right, or what is good for the USA! Because that’s what you do — act without a scintilla of thought! I SO wish you would prove me wrong, but sadly, you haven’t yet.
2
Deer in the headlights.
Gaslit.
Slow moving coup.
Another brick in the (impeachment) wall?
2
Hello? Innocent people don't stonewall.
4
Huh. A whistle! Since this is about Mr. Trump, at first glance I assumed it to be a dunce cap...
1
I'm curious why this is an editorial piece as there is nothing, as of yet, on which to opine. I'm not surprised that the Times has chosen to take an unfolding situation, a quote from the IG, and immediately turn it into a national security issue and a White House coverup. It's press-politics as usual and stokes the eternal flame of public opinion. Well, it seems I have just satisfied my own curiosity.
Now I'm curious where this story ends up...only Time(s) will tell...