Are we focusing on the correct motivation for the withholding of military aid to the Ukraine? Sure Trump used that witholding of aid to enrich himself or aid his reelection by asking for help in the 2020 election, but why did Trump actually block the aid??
Because Putin told him to, of course. He simply was following the orders give to him.
11
The fundamental problem is that Trump does not know the difference between right and wrong. He lives in a separate reality where rules are malleable and everything is "for sale." It is time for him to be returned to the world of TV from where he came, after a proper disposition from the Southern District of New York.
10
I find the recent revelations painful. I worked in Ukraine extensively in the early 2000s and became familiar with many people there, good people. For Russia Ukraine is considered "Little Russia". From its origin as an independent state in the early 90s it has struggled to be truly independent; struggled internally and vis a vis Russia. In 2014 Russia's hand became very explicit with the annexation of Crimea and support for break-away eastern regions. In the early 90s the US and others agreed to guarantee Ukraine's independence and security. But now we find that the US guaranty is really a contingent guaranty; contingent on the Ukrainians digging up dirt on Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. It is a guaranty contingent on the Ukrainian state abetting Mr. Trump in the commission of a US crime. Ukraine has a long pattern of corruption and malevolent politics, but its new President is a reformer - there is a real constituency there for good government. But here in the USA, I am not so sure, as Mr. Trump sells his office to avoid becoming a private citizen subject to criminal and civil prosecutions that may well destroy him, his family and his empire. The key to Mr. Trump's future depends much more on the informed views of US citizens and their cumulative influence on Congress than on any other factor.
12
So what happens if Pence is involved as well? If, in the very unlikely event, Trump was actually convicted in the Senate, what happens then?
Could he be also removed in the same proceedings?
I must say, the thought of President Pelosi makes me smile.
16
The Biden camp might not like what comes out in an impeachment investigation.
Why aren’t Democrats outraged by Joe Biden, while he was VP, trying to get the Ukrainian prosecutor general dismissed, Victor Shoki, who was investigating the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, on whose board Hunter Biden sits.
I don't know what he's making now, but Hunter was making as much as $50,000/month, not to mention that $1.8 billion in US aid to the company disappeared during Hunter's tenure on the board (which he joined in 2014), while his father was VP.
Sounds like this NEEDS some investigating. It sounds worse than what people are so upset about with the President.
Perhaps, the President was correct to talk to the Ukrainian officials to get a real investigation started.
1
Saying he wants to clean up corruption (in Ukraine) while himself engaging in more naked corruption than has ever been seen on these shores. Someday a psychology textbook will use Trump as an example to explain the phenomenon of projection.
11
This is only a crisis in the minds of the President's enemies.
It IS a joke and will come to nothing, except to make the Democrats look even more foolish.
The Biden camp might not like what comes out in an impeachment investigation.
Is anybody outraged by Joe Biden, while he was VP, trying to get the Ukrainian prosecutor general dismissed, Victor Shoki, who was investigating the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, on whose board Hunter Biden sits.
I don't know what he's making now, but Hunter was making as much as $50,000/month, not to mention that $1.8 billion in US aid to the company disappeared during Hunter's tenure on the board (which he joined in 2014), while his father was VP.
Sounds like this NEEDS some investigating. It sounds worse than what people are so upset about with the President.
Perhaps, the President was correct to talk to the Ukrainian officials to get a real investigation started.
2
The Biden camp might not like what comes out in an impeachment investigation.
Why aren't Democrats outraged by Joe Biden, while he was VP, trying to get the Ukrainian prosecutor general dismissed, Victor Shoki, who was investigating the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, on whose board Hunter Biden sits.
I don't know what he's making now, but Hunter was making as much as $50,000/month, not to mention that $1.8 billion in US aid to the company disappeared during Hunter's tenure on the board (which he joined in 2014), while his father was VP.
Sounds like this NEEDS some investigating. It sounds worse than what people are so upset about with the President.
Perhaps, the President was correct to talk to the Ukrainian officials to get a real investigation started.
1
The Biden camp might not like what comes out in an impeachment investigation.
Why aren’t Democrats outraged by Joe Biden, while he was VP, trying to get the Ukrainian prosecutor general dismissed, Victor Shoki, who was investigating the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, on whose board Hunter Biden sits.
I don't know what he's making now, but Hunter was making as much as $50,000/month, not to mention that $1.8 billion in US aid to the company disappeared during Hunter's tenure on the board (which he joined in 2014), while his father was VP.
Sounds like this NEEDS some investigating. It sounds worse than what people are so upset about with the President.
Perhaps, the President was correct to talk to the Ukrainian officials to get a real investigation started.
1
The Biden camp might not like what comes out in an impeachment investigation.
Why aren’t Democrats outraged by Joe Biden, while he was VP, trying to get the Ukrainian prosecutor general dismissed, Victor Shoki, who was investigating the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, on whose board Hunter Biden sits.
I don't know what he's making now, but Hunter was making as much as $50,000/month, not to mention that $1.8 billion in US aid to the company disappeared during Hunter's tenure on the board (which he joined in 2014), while his father was VP.
Sounds like this NEEDS some investigating. It sounds worse than what people are so upset about with the President.
Perhaps, the President was correct to talk to the Ukrainian officials to get a real investigation started.
1
The Biden camp might not like what comes out in an impeachment investigation.
Why aren’t Democrats outraged by Joe Biden, while he was VP, trying to get the Ukrainian prosecutor general dismissed, Victor Shoki, who was investigating the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, on whose board Hunter Biden sits.
I don't know what he's making now, but Hunter was making as much as $50,000/month, not to mention that $1.8 billion in US aid to the company disappeared during Hunter's tenure on the board (which he joined in 2014), while his father was VP.
Sounds like this NEEDS some investigating. It sounds worse than what people are so upset about with the President.
Perhaps, the President was correct to talk to the Ukrainian officials to get a real investigation started.
1
I have read the whistleblower's report and your article on the main points in it, and I've just read this article, and my question (plea) to you is: Is there any way you can explain this in a way that those of us with no familiarity with Ukrainian politics or the subterfuges that went on here can understand? My brain is spinning as it often does with stories like these. It doesn't help that I'm not familiar with any of the Ukrainian names and some of them seem very similar. I may be a dunce but I'm sure I'm not alone.
4
Surely it is obvious this is an effort by Trump to repay Putin for all the Russian dollars trump has received. Trump is trying to help Russia continue with its illegal invasion of Ukraine all the while accepting any corrupt help with winning the 2020 election. It is all tied to Russian money laundering trump has aided and abetted. Trump is pure evil and is surrounded by enablers in our federal government. We need the Press to continue its excellent investigative work, as we no longer have federal agencies working in America’s best interests. Our three separate but co-equal branches of government are corrupted. The infestation is rampant and the real question is are there enough good guys left to get us out of this cesspool we find ourselves. Our Democracy is drowning.
9
It is a foregone conclusion that Trump can't be trusted in anything he says.
Why not ask Volodymyr Zelensky straight out what the two of them talked about? He is a smart enough person to understand that Trump will not stay POTUS forever. Furthermore if Ukraine wants to kick Russia out it is in it's best interest to help cut Putin's strings to Mr. Pinocchio aka Trump
You forget that both Crimes and eastern Ukraine was a part of the USER until Khruschev got the Politburo to make them part of the Ukrainian Oblast! A questionable action by Victoria Nuland let that stand when the Budapest memorandum was negotiated. Crimea had been part of Russia since 1783. This diplomatic error by Nuland has been a source of trouble ever since once the U.S. began major interference in Ukrainian politics!
1
I'm not convinced Trump is obsessed with Ukraine.
Seems that the Clintons and Obama's were obsessed with Ukraine, so much so that they used their support to gather dirt on Trump and his team in 2015 and 2016.
Trump's just trying to find a way to be made whole.
An honest person would have thought Mueller would have done that, but he was so much in the bag for Democrats that his report and investigation needs to be redone by honest and credible people without an axe to grind.
And talk about obsession? What about the Biden family?
They made more money in the Ukraine in just 4 years than most people have made in a lifetime.
Nothing to see there though.
I checked Hunter Biden's CV and sure enough..he's both a global expert on energy and a subject matter expert on the Ukrainian economy.
Well worth the $3 million they gave him.
Likely 1/2 of that went to his old man after hit got laundered.
5
@Erica Smythe
Please point us to some evidence backing up your statements.
7
Trump's conduct is obviously horrible, and perhaps impeachable.
At the same I wonder why the son of a Vice President of the United States is sitting on the board of directors of a Ukrainian energy company. That seems odd as well.
8
Sitting on the board of directors of any company, including in the US, provides a nice income. I know this because when I found it out, I figured how can I get in on this? Turns out, I can't. You have to be well connected to get those jobs, i.e. which schools you went to (state university's will not do), who your parents know (sadly no one of importance), who you know (again, sadly no one of importance). So alas I could not get a cushy job with a good income. It doesn't make someone corrupt if they do this, it just means they have connections.
12
Hunter is not currently on the board of Burisma. It’s obvious he was given the job to curry favor with the Vice President. That didn’t work out for Burisma though. When investigations into Burisma’s owner were stalled by the corrupt General prosecutor, at the insistence of the international community, Joe Biden had him replaced with a prosecutor who actually did go after Burisma’s owner- who’s a pro-Russian oligarch by the way.
Now, should there be laws against President’s and vice president’s family members having certain business dealings with foreign companies? Maybe.
17
@RogerI agree. This should cause Dems to seriously rethink Biden as frontrunner. Trump will just keep hammering him on this in the debates. Instead Dems should nominate a moderate candidate who is scandal-free, so he/she can focus on Trump's scandals. Otherwise, it's just going to be back-and-forth scandal-mongering, and there's not much edge there.
Booker? Harris? Buttigieg? Who knows. Just not Biden. Way too much baggage.
29
.. It was not a country that would naturally have seemed high on the priority list of a president..
WRONG
The Ukraine is THE country fought over by Russia and the US.
Control of it is the key to contain Putin's attempts to regain the old Russian influence over Eastern Europe. Vladimir's dream is to gobble up all of - in 2014 he got the Crimea , later he got part of Ukraine' Easter Border provinces
Being a crucial State in the East-West contest happening in Eastern Europe , the President was right in paying attention to it. The more, the worse for Putin and his corrupt Ukrainian Oligarch allies
8
@Victor Krasulya
This is correct but for one detail:
Both, US and Russia gambled for the whole of Ukraine, the Ukraine being in the grip of Russia at that time.
Both missed their objectives, with US winning a half, Russia loosing a half. So Russia isn't on the attack, its trying to limit its losses.
And what is even more important: The military engagement required to secure the access to Sevastopol and the Black Sea effectively scared the majority of former allies into the arms of the west.
And this is unlikely to be forgotten for the next two decades at least.
It looks worse for Russia, then for the West. And *this* might be a real bummer. Talk about a bear being cornered...
This is Trump working for Vladimir Putin.
More and more evidence Trump is a knowing and willing Russian agent.
21
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/ Also, 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/ And with Trump using his official power as POTUS in conducting foreign policy to target Joe Biden, we may have his most explicit attempt to make govt into his own personal political tool for hurting his political enemies, part of a trend with him/GOP I note here https://realcontextnews.com/trump-gop-destroying-the-pillars-of-democracy/ On impeachment, I believe that Trump should have been impeached some time ago, but practical considerations make this issue much more complicated, as I noted before here https://realcontextnews.com/the-impeachment-of-donald-trump-russias-victory/
4
I find it hilarious. Trump spends two years gnashing his teeth about the special counsel, only to escape by a miracle. And immediately proceeds to through himself into the very same fire with a recorded phone call openly doing the very thing he was investigated for. I guess you really can't save stupid.
26
Check out Michael Cohen connection to Ukraine.
4
"Zelly baby, ya got a nice little country here...shame if something happened to it..."
17
I hope Mr. Volodymyr Zelensky realizes how his conversation with Trump makes him look like a pathetic lap dog. "Of course, your plane is better." The Ukrainian people deserve better.
10
@DK
And this is possibly the tragic part of it. Zelensky might have gambled that discretely humoring Trump might keep him of his back, while he would still be able to lessen tensions with Putin, fight corruption within Ukraine, and rebuilding his country. So far, there is little evidence that Zelensky is just as corrupt as his predecessors. From what I hear, he is doing the best he can do fight corruption.
But Trump has now put all of that into jeopardy by unprofessional, selfcentric behavior:
- unable to keep his mouth shut
- unable to keep him self from grabbing for the faintest hint of an advantage
- and finally unable to properly protect his 'friends'
It remains to be seen, whether Zelensky will survive the political fallout. If not, this presents an opening for the old cronies to wedge themselves back in.
With 'friends' like Trump, you don't need enemies.
4
What are the chances that Putin told Trump that Ukraine was involved in bringing Trump down?
15
Having read this article and the whistleblower's 9-pg memo, there seems a proxy war of Russia v Ukraine that Trump and Zelensky were waging, toward a victory that Trump's July 25 phone call meant to achieve. Manafort's testimony as to the overarching political motives of "The Great Divider" are cited in this article:
"Mr. Trump was briefed on the subject, and would consider pursuing investigations 'if the Democrats keep pushing' investigations into Russian meddling on Mr. Trump’s behalf, Mr. Manafort told people in the days before the inauguration."
And, of course, we have the larger Mueller Report, if anyone doubts that Trump's motives about anything related to this matter were political. And we have Bob Woodward's book, Fear, if there's any doubt that Trump's primary relational motif is to find leverage toward the results he wants. The pieces of a highly illicit, if not illegal act are falling into place.
9
If the U.S. had credible evidence on Biden, Trump would not have needed Rudy to build a case and he would not have needed to make the call. He does not see the line he crossed, but the line is there for a reason. This country has a thing called intelligence to protect against our acting on bad or non-existent evidence. Trump, evidently, does not.
12
From the complaint:
"According to White House officials I spoke with, this was 'not the first time' under this Administration that a Presidential transcript was placed into this codeword-level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive—rather than national security sensitive—information."
Makes you wonder what else might be in there.
15
Most Americans believe that they can do whatever they wish because the constitution gives them permission....no matter if what they do is moral or immoral, decent or indecent, or right or wrong. With this kind of total freedom the future will have no need of prisons, law enforcement agencies, nor law books. Why? Because if the law allows you to do what you want, then there is no wrong you can do.
Blessed are those who do not see yet believe. To those who believe in His name: who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Democrats would be smart to censure the president rather than grand-standing on a no go impeachment.
@clarity007
I agree that censure should be pursued--if it doesn't abrogate the impeachment inquiry already announced. It's not either/or it's both/and.
1
This is so depressing. So many people involved in helping a corrupt, amoral, predator, con artist keep power.
It will take me a long time to believe that Republicans love our country and believe in democracy.
11
One of the clear pieces of information about whether Trump was pressuring
Ukraine was the obsequious tone of the Ukraine President falling all over himself to stroke Trump's ego. Like a line in a play, the declaration that he had used a Trump hotel tells us all we need to know about what he thinks about our President's character.
97
Isn't it ironic that Trump and his allies have spent so much time fighting "corruption" in Ukraine while engaging in such behavior themselves?
I just looked up the definition of corruption, as it pertains to public service: " Political corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain."
The whistleblower complaint is only one example of corruption committed by president, who has married his financial interests with his official duties throughout his presidency. He began with Emoluments violations, followed by fighting other government restrictions, rules and norms that stood in the way of his personal interests.
In fact, I'd say Donald Trump's sole goals in office is to make as money as he can and pursuing political enemies deemed insufficiently "loyal." to him
Everything he does is decided on those bases, so for him to obsess about Ukrainian corruption is laughable.
112
@ChristineMcM If the idea of using a position of power for personal gain bothers you, as it does me, then you have to also look at our former Vice President. While in office, he teed up a 600k per yr job for his son at Ukraine's biggest gas company (where he doesn't live, has no experience in the field and doesn't speak the language). When the company was being investigated, Biden withheld millions from Ukraine unless they fired the prosecutor. Around the same time that Hunter got his no-show job, our VP brought him on a trip to China on Airforce 2. A week later, voila, Hunter's company received 1.5 BILLION dollars from the Chinese government. It's almost weird to see Dems ignore this awesome abuse of power simply because he is a Dem.
1
@ChristineMcM
I think this is a good time for the news to re-look at Trump's dealings in Azerbaijan and possible ties to Iran.
The New Yorker did a big piece on it and Rachel Maddow covered it, but it seemed to be ignored elsewhere:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/13/donald-trumps-worst-deal
Here we go again. Yet another pathetically incompetent attempt at collusion and a cover up. Incredibly, my gaslit Trump supporting friends have already bought the whataboutism and one even had this news make him confident enough to bet that Trump would be reelected. Meanwhile, stories like this make it obvious we've only seen the tip of the iceberg. Nobody knew that icebergs could stink so bad.
Thank you Ken, Julian, Maggie and Sharon. We're going to run out of Pulitzers before this is done.
22
Please remember it's Kyiv.. Not Kiev. Ukrainians are taking back their national heritage and it's foundation is in language. Since the days of the Russian empire, Ukrainian language has been suppressed. Let's end that here. Kyiv is the transliteration.
10
I have no doubt that by the time this is all over, it will more directly involve Russia and Trump's deferential relationship with Putin.
21
I share sentiments of a comment below where the writer says both sides have enough to build a sand castle.
As a Republican - this is a continued Democrat effort to undo 2016 election results.
There is no way even a Democrat controlled Senate would vote to convict this POTUS even if the House forwards impeachment article's.
Politicians of both parties in the senate will know they will be setting up a precedent to remove an elected POTUS and nullify will of the voters.
And thats the reason no POTUS has actually been convicted and removed.
I wish saner folks among democrats leaders will say lets wait till november 2020.
@Neil - There remains considerable doubt that the tainted 2016 election was the will of the voters. Look at the Mueller Report.
7
Ukraine is not being "menaced" by Russia. It is being invaded by Russia. And of course Russia is run by Trump's boss Vladimir Putin. As sick as Nixon was, Trump will melt down far worse than Nixon did. His Republican enablers are not patriots.
27
Trump's thin skin finally did him in.
12
@Tom
Our President didn't make it this far by having thin skin. I don't think you know the significance of the expression.
Anyway, he is far from done...one more term. :)
1
This all goes back to Trump being in bed with Putin of Russia.
I doubt Trump realizes this, but once he's out of office Putin is going to drop him like a hot potato.
14
Welcome to the bizarro world of Trump’s mind. Where Russia, who actually undermined Clinton an our election, possibly with Ukrainian-based hackers, in Trump’s cloudy brain becomes his nemesis. And maybe also holds his golden fleece—the Clinton server! Now it all makes sense...
5
Trump’s fixation on Ukraine is caused by Putin’s fixation on Ukraine.
90
@EW
Exactly! I don't understand why people are not making the connection. In the past, Trump has spouted obscure opinions about other countries, like Montenegro for example, that are not spoken of by anyone in the world other than Putin.
This is a man who had no understanding of any world history or foreign affairs before becoming president. He was a blank slate who should have been taking a crash course in these subject matters from career experts in the US government as well as other academic or think tank sources in the US. Instead he went to Putin's foreign affairs University.
Therefore, Trump's understanding of the UK is whatever Putin wanted him to think.
Which makes me ask. If this is not the first time that transcripts from a call where improperly moved to classified file servers to hide their inappropriate political and/or unethical content, which other calls have been hidden there? Perhaps the content from most of his calls with Putin?
9
After seeing the mess Trump has placed Maguire and Zelensky in it screams at us that the title of the Rick Wilson book Everything Trump Touches Dies is spot on. Imagine you are either man dealing with Trump. Zelensky feels he has no other choice but to express obeisance to Trump's demand that he provide dirt on the Bidens. Maguire is so flummoxed by the information he receives from the IG that the first thing he does is rely on Trump's counsel for direction.That's like a district attorney seeking help from the attorney for a mob boss in trying to determine what the next step would be. Maguire twisted himself into a pretzel during this morning's hearing trying to skirt questions about Trump's illegal behavior by repeatedly saying that discussions he has with the president come under executive privilege. It is obvious that Maguire, had he been able to predict the mess he's in, would have never agreed to succeed Coats as DNI. But now that he is the DNI, acting or not, he must do as he's always done in the past: Put country first, which, unfortunately is not the behavior of Trump nor his party.
11
Trump’s obsession with the Ukraine mirrors Putin’s obsession with the Ukraine.
Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine’s Crimea began US and EU sanctions and dropped Russia from the G-8.
Trump’s now jailed campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was sent from the Ukraine by Putin to run Trump’s campaign for free, despite being deeply in debt.
Trump and Putin have been trying to get Congress to drop economic sanctions and rejoin the G-8 as if the invasion never happened.
Now Trump is threatening our national security by withholding military aid to the Ukraine as Russia continues its attack against its neighbor.
As an added bonus he is trying to bribe foreign leaders using US military aid as a carrot to reinvestigate the son of his political rival and reach a different conclusion than an earlier investigation.
To underscore corrupt intent, he didn’t ask the Ukraine to work with an impartial US investigatory body such as the FBI to investigate the family of his political rivals.
That would still be illegal, but Trump directed all investigative reports to his personal lackeys, making the foreign political bribery case of political rivals unambiguous.
Trump is unfit to run for President, and Republicans should drop him with dispatch if they want to remain a political party and support freedom, democracy, the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States of America.
A Russian asset has been in the White House, and it will take all patriotic Americans to get him out.
26
@David Parsons Great summary, thank you.
3
The most disturbing part of the “Whistleblower Complaint” is that political figures have placed themselves in the middle of a volatile conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine is in an extremely vulnerable position and both individuals (Trump and Hunter Biden) have taken full advantage of their vulnerabilities at the core of Ukraine’s national security. Where was Joe Biden when Hunter decided to involve and profit from Ukraine’s assets? This becomes a political mess for both parties. Shame on Trump and the Bidens for not seeing the conflict of interest associated with their actions. Let’s hope that Congress and the Senate can work through the muck created by political figures who place their own individual interests over the security and viability of a fragile country trying to fight for democracy and a country free of corruption. Which country is the most fragile now? The U.S. or Ukraine? We shall see as our government tries to remedy a dangerous ploy by Trump exposed now in the public eye. How many other countries have experienced the same “irrational bullying” by Trump which would put their own national security at risk? Let’s see democracy play out at its finest. Let’s hold Trump accountable for his actions that undermine the viability of democracies in the U.S. and the world.
4
Just for the sake of argument let’s say maybe Biden did pressure Ukraine into dropping their investigation into his son’s company. As POTUS, why can’t trump discuss the alleged corruption with Ukraine’s newly elected president? It’s in both countries interests to figure out exactly what happened between their prior administrations, and to mend the diplomatic relationship. Would this behavior have been ok, but for the fact that Biden is running against Trump? If so, can anyone running for president avoid investigation by the sitting president? furthermore, if Biden turns out to be culpable, was it fair to have the investigation paused just because it came during an election?
Behold the pained expression on the poor man's face.
1
Trump is obsessed with the threat of running against Biden.
Trump desperately wants to run and defeat Warren.
Democrats take note.
4
The truth about politicians like Joe Biden and Donald Trump. a newcomer to politics can exist in several intersecting domains. Corruption, collusion, and improper influence-peddling behavior by then vice president Joe Biden in Ukraine can be important for Trump and Barr to expose and bring to justice by whatever means necessary. This could simultaneously be called dirt-digging-up by angry Democrats AND, also be helpful politically to Trump. Trump's Art-of-the-Deal as a crude political blunt instrument with the new Ukraine leader to get Biden investigated and also get other European countries to help Ukraine against Russia, maybe unpresidential but effective, as Obama and Biden did as well.
1
It’s pretty simple. Putin is blackmailing and ruling Trump. Putin orders Trump to get Ukraine out of his hair. Trump follows orders. Pure extortion.
5
Trump and his accomplice Giuliani sound like trouble making kids in school playing word games to get out of detention with the principal for the hundredth time. “You got it all wrong; it was the teacher’s fault. We were minding our own business when out of nowhere... This is all a mixup, no it’s nonsense, no it’s a conspiracy...” Trump has gotten away with this his whole life. The question is whether or not he has finally overplayed his hand.
2
His obsession with the Ukraine is directly related to the interest of Putin.His family (sons) has admitted all funding for golf courses and other interest are funded by Russian related banks. I read the NYT and other information outlets. Don't Republicans READ!
4
Trump is a Putin puppet and does what Putin wants. Holding money from the Ukrainian government is exactly what he would want Trump to do.
6
No wonder there are so many Ukranian immigrants to America. They need an escape from the floods of details necessary to keep up with the corruption and rumors of corruption in their former country. How did they have time for anything else? In America, their children will have time for computer games, at least, instead of corruption.
Rudy Giuliani is the lawyer Trump deserves after a lifetime of stiffing other lawyers.
7
Ukraine collusion?
"'Ha ha, the [sic] Ukraine. Do you know what the Ukraine is? It's a sitting duck. A road apple, Newman. The Ukraine is weak. It's feeble. I think it's time to put the hurt on the Ukraine."
- Kramer from an episode of Seinfeld
1
I don't understand any of this. Was the DNC was working with Ukraine to release information about the Trump campaign?
That seems to be a charge. What is wrong with investigating that? And if it took place, how is that "collaboration." Isn't it collaboration, plain and simple?
@Talbot
You don't understand it because it makes no sense. The best I can make out is that Trump is trying to spin a conspiracy theory that Ukraine colluded with Hillary to shoot down Manafort by planting bogus information that Manafort had received $millions from the former corrupt government. Furthermore, the entire story about how the Russians interfered in the 2016 election is actually a hoax perpetrated by Hillary and the Ukrainians. Hillary's e-mail server is hiding in Ukraine. Rudy has been trying for months to make that stick. Trump is hoping that the new, inexperienced government can be browbeaten into promoting this fantasy.
The Logan Act makes it a felony for any private citizen to interact with a foreign govt to attempt to alter its relations with the US. Giuliani's efforts seem to clearly fall in violation of this law, even if he acted with the knowledge and support of the President. He's not a federal employee, he's Trump's personal lawyer. Does he even have a security clearance?
Please Google Logan Act. The text of the law is brief, simple and clear.
13
There is enough grist in this for both sides to use as ammunition in the election. But can they convince a plurality voters they are telling the truth, or not lying...that's another story.
1
Repeat after me I am not an attorney and I do not understand the foreign corrupt practices act. If I were an attorney and I understood it I would understand why this is a total tempest in a teapot. We do not allow any US citizen to function abroad in a lawless matter whether their last name is Smith or Biden. Trump is totally justified as will be proven by the Supreme Court in trying to root out possible criminal behavior by our elected officials and their children. You folks in the press who are completely naïve and do not know the law really must start to understand this. Giuliani should never have been called in. This is strictly Bill Barrs territory and he should have been working on his own to get the proper information from his counterpart in the Ukraine.
@Unhappy JD Do you actually consider Billy Barr capable of any seeking of truth. LOL
2
Trump the stable genius is so fixated on his dislikes to the Dems, Blacks ,Gays ,women look how many he assaulted , in other words he is a nation divider . He needs to be removed from office now. The Republicans can look far and all of their leaders men and women are prejudice and only support the rich. They will never get the popular support like HIlary Clinton got because of all the hatred. Very sad political party i hope this is the end of them.
3
The paranoia and disordered thinking demonstrated by our President is beyond alarming. There is every reason to believe that beyond his profound dishonesty Trump has a true thought disorder. Consider his weather map. An eight year old would have known that that would not fly.
This man controls the nuclear codes and therefor all of our futures on a day to day basis. His legal removal from office is critically urgent.
4
With Manafort in jail Trump turns to Giuliani and Pence to do his bidding in Ukraine, a poor country that normally would not draw such attention except that Putin wants to seize it like he did Crimea. Trump is desperate, not only to influence the 2020 election but to please “boss” Putin. Is Trump Putin’s agent?
6
Imagine, if you will, that during the course of the current impeachment investigations in the House, President Trump’s political agent and international man of mystery, Rudy Giuliani, were called to testify. He is not a government official and not on the national payroll. Presumably, though he is tasked with diplomatic missions, he is on Mr. Trump’s personal payroll as a private attorney, not for the President, but for Mr. Trump himself. Therefore, he will claim attorney client privilege and shut up tighter than a clam on ice at Umberto’s Clam House. Leave the gun, take the cannoli - another lesson from Roy Cohn.
2
Giuliani, a former prosecutor of organized crime, should recognize a "Shakedown: when he sees it. But, now acting as, in essence, as Trump's defense attorney (what Giuliani recently said he was), his role has changed. Rudy has now become the Bruce Cutler of Washington, D.C.
2
Reality Check in the Great Deception we presently in hard to know whos playing who. Only one solution to present election system being used as a rouse for agenda . Making manditory voting in U,S,A ends the problem it be futile for either party to play out dirty laudrey other. But then present people in office dont want people to vote easyer for them to get elected.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Putin is feeding this narrative to Trump. The fact that Trump can be so easily manipulated for the sake of his own ego is the biggest threat to our national security.
4
The Russian bear is waiting to pounce on the Ukraine.
Newly elected President Zelensky needs to protect his country and get the promised military aid from the US.
Trump does his whirligig act - agrees to release aid then doesn’t then implies he will release it if the Ukraine will investigate the one democratic presidential candidate that Trump quivers in his tweetle Dee and tweetledom world when he hears Biden is ahead in the phony polls.
Putin doesn’t want Biden as president. Putin isn’t afraid of a few million dollars of US military aid to the Ukraine.
Biden must be taken out to appease Putin. The trump taint is as successful as any putinesque method to undermine our democracy. Putin is behind the scenes acting as Trump’s silent partner.
It’s as clear as a borscht conspiracy.
2020. Dump trump, ditch Mitch, can FLIM flam Graham
6
Can you feel it? We're in that 48 hour period that keeps happening during the Trump administration...
...the 48 hours during which Republicans are shocked into silence by the depravity of what he's done...
...the 48 hours it takes them to figure out how to accept it, defend it, and make it the new normal.
4
Nixon did foolish things because of his fear of not getting reelected. Trump has done the same.
3
No quid pro quo, Senator Graham? Nothing there, Sen. Ernst? Well, the transcript says:
“The United States has been very very good to Ukraine. I wouldn’t say that it’s reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine.” Trump told Zelensky menacingly.
Zelensky responded that Ukraine wanted to buy more antitank missiles from the U.S.
Trump then said: “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it. Whatever you can do, it’s very important that you do it if that’s possible.”
The 'it' Trump referred to was a theory that DNC's 2016 email server wound up in Ukraine - to support Trump's argument that Russia didn't hack DNC nor help him win in 2016.
Trump then said: "There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it... It sounds horrible to me.”
Not once did Trump talk about removing corruption in Ukraine or seek any foreign policy objective.
Trump browbeat a nation's leader to get dirt on his opponent during a presidential campaign, while withholding appropriated military aid to that nation.
305
@Ed unfortunately Fox News readers and Republican supporters are devoid of critical reading skills. They sound out the words but cannot glean the message. They read the same words as other humans but get an entirely different message or no message at all. Perplexing.
71
@Ed
But one would be suspicious that Giuliani very well may have been more direct in letting it be known that the aid package might be in play. I am embarrassed by the way Trump and Giuliani behave when representing the United States.
50
@Ed Spot on.
16
Wow! The most puzzling aspect of the July phone call is what is not there. Taking Trump at his word, he says he froze the $125M in military aide because he had concerns about corruption in the Ukraine and where that money would go. In the opening of the conversation Zelensky brings up military aide and says he wants to take the “next steps” and speaks off purchasing more missiles from the US. If Trump was truly concerned about corruption (so concerned that he froze this money only days before this conversation), why doesn’t he tell Zelensky, “look, I froze that money because I have these concerns. Make it right and the US will continue to support the Ukraine.” Instead, Trump asks for a favor. Zelensky didn’t know that the military aide was frozen at the time of the call, or for months after. The parting message was “do me a favor” not “clean up corruption in your country and i’ll see you get aide.” Pretty clear to me.
119
@Powderchords Speaking of government corruption, this episode is the poster boy for it. Here we are bashing a country for corruption by using corrupt methods.
7
@Powderchords
Why didn't we get the edited sections that the WH deleted from his "rough summary of notes" before releasing to the public.
7
The executive has wide latitude when conducting foreign relations. It seems odd that being a "political rival" should provide a shield to any US citizen or corporation.
If Ukraine had dropped an investigation into Facebook, Google, or ExxonMobil; could the President have raised those topics? One could make an argument that CEOs of FB and GOOG are political rivals based on their campaign contributions. Could the President's disagreement with Rex Tillerson make XOM a "political rival."
Seems like the whistleblower took her shot too early. The current discussions seem to be well within the latitude given to the executive. Had Trump eventually promised to link aid to a preferred outcome (Ukraine had not committed to actually reopening the investigation, and even if there was an investigation it could have yielded nothing). Being the Son of a political rival (which is a very vague term) should not shield a citizen conducting business in Ukraine from scrutiny.
Another example, if Trump was pushing for an investigation into Epstien, would that be focused on a "political rival." In a world where 55% of the US is the political rival to Trump, the standard makes no sense.
3
@James You write, "Being the Son of a political rival (which is a very vague term) should not shield a citizen conducting business in Ukraine from scrutiny." You're right--but wow, you reveal yourself. Apparently you do not think that all American citizens, even those under suspicion, should be shielded from having the President of the United States sic a foreign leader on them. A president who directly asks a foreign leader to search out possible corruption of political opponents in our country is an autocrat reaching way beyond his Constitutional powers as president. For what is he doing other than violating the rights of private citizens?
Btw, If Trump really wanted to probe whether there was corruption involving Biden or his son and the Ukraine, he should have gone directly to the State Department --and not involved his private attorney.
5
How does the US benefit from Ukraine investigating a bogus right wing conspiracy theory? If not our country, who benefits? Oh. Just the president and the president’s presidential campaign? You’re okay with that?
4
@Emile That is why I asked about 4 other scenarios. I am not a lawyer, so if it would have been legitimate to ask about Ukraine investigation into FB, GOOG, or XOM. If the answer is yes, then this seems legitimate.
I am asking about the executive to remove any political bias. The executive should have the same rights no matter who occupies the office.
If I were a conspiracy theorist--and of course I'm not--I would think it odd that Trump's conversation with the leader of the Ukraine, the corporate media's latest frenzy of trivial pursuit, meriting wall-to-wall talking-head coverage on all the news networks, arrives just in time to obliterate any reporting on the UN Climate Summit and General Assembly meeting. But of course, I'm not a conspiracy theorist.
5
The Ukraine was and is a corrupt state. It is less corrupt now, then previously, but powerful oligarchs with murky connections to Russia are still largely in charge
The Ukraine can't be a reliable partner in the Western Alliance against Putin's Russia until the corruption is cleared up.
To insist that corruption is investigated is in the interest of the United States - unless, that is, you want to leave the back door open for Putin.
1
@Victor The country is no longer called “The Ukraine.” It’s simply Ukraine. Come into the 21st century, please.
2
@Victor, it's"Ukraine", not "the Ukraine". We don't say "the France", or "the China", do we?
1
If a forensic accountant ever gets their hands on the Trump organizations tax records I'd bet they'll find millions and millions of Ukrainian dollars funneled through Trump real estate. Probably millions more in loans to shore his "empire" up from his incompetence. They give him money and he loves them. That's Trump in a nutshell.
15
Trump claimed the Constitution says he can do whatever he wants as president. Guess he misread that.
12
Barr claims the Constitution says the president can do whatever he wants and is exempt from oversight, investigation, or prosecution because of the founders’ true meaning of the word “President “ - which he asserts in their day was a more benign sounding synonym for king. Barr just wants to be viceroy and, when Trump becomes more completely incapacitated, regent. He is a Tory. Exile him to Canada with the other royalist.
4
Our constitution should be glued to the cell wall so Trump has something to read every day he spends in prison.
5
What is the attraction of Ukraine to US operatives, politicians, consultants, etc? Both Manafort and Biden were doing business there as well as lots of other clever people. Does this go on everywhere, with all other foreign countries or is it just Ukraine? I wish the article had gone deeper into the history.
Maybe we will never know why Ukraine has been honey to all these bees. We still don't know, half a century later, what the Watergate burglars were looking for.
5
“Throughout Mr. Giuliani’s efforts he would brief Mr. Trump, keeping the president abreast of his work. But Mr. Giuliani also decided he would talk publicly about what he found.
‘I decided because I couldn’t get law enforcement agencies interested in doing their job, I would just put it out publicly and I would see if anyone was interested in it,’”
Rudy Giuliani, America’s Vigilante? What a long, strange trip it’s been. From ‘broken windows’ oppression, to jet setting across Europe, in a frantic attempt to continue Paul Manafort’s (alleged?) work to restore the House of Hapsburg.
There goes my liberal brainwashing again. How can anyone behold the awesome radiance of Donald Trump, and not be a little deranged by the experience? The man stares into solar eclipses without thinking twice, and uses ellipsis to fill the space where words are supposed to go.
6
I ask my long time friends why they love trump so much. Most say “everyone in politics is corrupt and we know trump is corrupt but he’s making changes so we don’t care.”
I say trump’s corruption makes other politicians look like saints. His changes are killing the planet.
27
Donald Trump has numerous obsessions. Unfortunately the goodwill of the citizens of the United States is not one of his obsessions.
10
The GOP will support all of Trump's lies of course. How they can believe anything he says is beyond comprehension.
8
good job writing an article about the actual story. All the other articles seem to say that this is just a big problem for Democrats and all the sad nervous Democrat voters (not to mention the six swing voters who are actually Republican loyalists)
3
There us so much smoke from this "smoking gun" that you can no longer see the gun.
16
Rudy Guiliani has to be the worst legal advisor that ever existed.
It appears that he allowed his client to believe that traitorous activities would not have legal consequences.
16
Trump has revealed a level of ignorance that is staggering.
I don't think he could pass a basic high school civics test.
23
@rab
or even middle school.
4
Did it ever occur to anyone that Trump's "fixation" on Ukraine is payback to Putin for Russia's dirty tricks helping Trump win the 2016 election?
22
@Lewis Ford
I'm sure Putin is pressuring Trump to stop aid to Ukraine as soon as possible. He's itching to annex Ukraine.
But as long as Zelensky continues dancing with Trump and hints that they are investigating Biden as Trump has directed, Ukraine will get $$$$.
How long will Putin allow this to go on.
And will the Republicans cave to King Trump and let him stop aid to Ukraine for Putin to invade a defenseless Ukraine like he did Crimea?
4
Both actor-bad bizman Trump, and actor-lawyer Zelensky (who worked in Putin's Moscow media and doesn't speak Ukrainian language, just Russian and English) are Putin's GROOMED assets delivered by Putin by TV media. The Kremlin won!
2
Trump couldn't spell Ukraine on his own. The involvement of Manafort and Deripaska / Putin in the campaign, funding of the Trump Companies and Putin's plans for Europe factor more heavily in this that anything emanating from Trump himself. The pieces are all there to be seen and assembled. The unrecorded or read out private meetings between Trump and Putin (e.g. Helsinki) and with the Russian delegation (Oval Office 2017) take on greater weight when Trump is obviously pursuing actions that also help Putin and Deripaska as well as his own re-election efforts. Dirtying up the new Ukrainian president is not inconsistent with such plans.
34
@David The acts of a crime boss wanta-be ... Money laundering, influence pedaling, abuse of power for personal gain... it's all there.
13
@David
Actually, I think it would be hilarious if some reporter asked him on the spot, "What do the letters in the acronym 'NATO' stand for?"
And then ask him, based on the long list of countries with which he said he had "good meetings" during the U.N. conference, to name the leaders of three of those countries. No notes, no google.
4
@David
Good summary. Hard to keep track of all the dots. Thanks. It has been obvious for what , 3 years now?
2
So with the release of the whistleblower's complaint the story is now complete - wrongdoing by Trump followed by a cover-up. What else is new? Let's see how Trump and his sycophants try to wiggle their way out of this one.
22
@Jay Orchard
They will add "No Quid Pro Quo" hats to their new line of Trump accessories.
3
Since April?! Why is Donald Trump so scared of Joe Biden? And why are all of these people risking being caught committing crimes to help Mr. Trump to get something on Mr. Biden? What did they do? What do they know?
5
I just keep thinking...Trump resigns leaving us with Pence.
I would rather see Trump impeached and the voted out. That would make everyone in his administration go away!
5
@susan Trump will drag Pence down too, back to the Dark Ages from whence he came.
10
@susan
I think Republicans should draft Romney to challenge Trump. He's looking really good
right now.
Mitt Romney and Nikki Haley would be a really strong combo!
Trump will take everyone down with him. It’s going to be a bloodbath.
Please. Trump couldn't find Ukraine in the map. If it weren't for a remote possibility to smear Biden the only phone call Zelensky would have ever gotten was one in April when he won, just a polite diplomatic congratulatory call. Instead Trump started pressing him then.
It also goes without saying that anything that hinders the Ukrainian's ability to fight helps Russia and Putin. Trump met with Putin with no other US reps and he snatched up the interpreters notes. Are secret servers and no-note meetings the actions of an innocent man? The GOP sure thought that meant HRC was up to no good, but now it's A OK?
14
@northeastsoccermum
I can't recall a more chaotic administration. I thought the Bush 43 administration was corrupt but, ironically, they were actually good at it. You had old hands who had been around since Nixon and Ford, sneering old goats used to getting their way. But this, this...governing by tweet.
In nine years, Donald Rumsfeld's official twitter account has posted 1000 tweets.
Trump has posted 1000 tweets since breakfast.
You get what you pay for, people.
2
The Ukraine used to be called the breadbasket of the Soviet Union due to its' rich harvests. In his unread ways Trump thought he could make a lot of bread there with a hotel complex. Then he heard that the younger Biden was making a lot of bread there for doing nothing, and Trump became envious. Clearly this was an encroachment on his way of making money.
When the people of the US elected (I know, that is debatable based on actual vote count) they opted for ignorance over distaste of another Clinton circus. As an earlier humorist said, "once ignorance gets started, it knows no bounds", and we see that on a global stage now. Ignorance and corruption are a very bad combination in the nuclear age. We'll see if 2020 brings America back to some sense, if Congress does not do so sooner.
4
@Ed Marth
Speaking of ignorance Ed, it's just "Ukraine", not The Ukraine. Same way you wouldn't call Germany "The Germany". The political climate in this country is terribly toxic. None are more ignorant than AOC; yet she is a "star" of the Democrat party. It can only be solved by term limits.
For an American-firster, Trump seems to have placed an awful lot of emphasis on a collaborative relationship with a foreign government to advance his interests.
10
I thought I was reading a fictional movie plot for a moment ... you can’t make this stuff up!
6
Long before he was President Trump was presient, he was dealing with shady Russian financiers, back when American banks would not lend to him because of his bad record in paying back loans. In a campaign speech Trump said " All my life I have been greedy greedy greedy, and now I want to be greedy for you". That is not the nature (nor even the definition of greed. Make no mistake, Trump will do ANYTHING, say ANYTHING to get what he wants FOR HIMSELF not you!
15
Trump never heard of Ukraine until Putin told him about it.
6
Trump repeatedly refers to mysterious, ambiguous sources in his call with Zelensky. “There’s a lot of talk about...”, “They say ...”, or “People want to know...”. Who are these sources - Faux News? Or they just voices in his head? Would be helpful if he substantiated his claims, but we all know he never will since there’s no truth behind any of this,
7
“The rule of law”? “Accountability”? In Washington, DC? Those two left town, and the U.S., quite some time ago, pilgrim, and won’t ever be back. Somebody said they were last seen in New Zealand....
2
Accomplished con-man trump saw an easy mark in a comedian with zero political experience. So he pounced on it quickly.
Very predictable behavior for the Dear Leader.
9
Actually reporter Murray Waas in the New York Review of Books has a very different theory of the case that goes back to Manafort wanting revenge on whoever it was in Ukraine who ratted on him. Doing revenge research, they uncovered the Biden connection and decided to exploit it. ALSO: Trump was looking for ways to pardon Manafort, and may still be. https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/09/25/trump-giuliani-and-manafort-the-ukraine-scheme/
3
Still, I am very curious to know why an unqualified* son of a US Vice President got paid $50k a month to sit on the board of a shady Ukrainian company.
(*no experience in oil and gas or Eastern Europe.)
2
@Joker
What does it matter? Lots of people make $50K a month for no work. Look at the entire Trump family.
2
@Joker - Here is it. The Faux News talking point of the day and all of the Trump lemmings are repeating it while Trump and his spawn use our tax dollars as their own personal piggy bank.
btw, check out the qualifications of Trump's cabinet, particularly Perry and Carson.
Trump corruption. Plain & simple.
6
Both actor-bad bizman Trump, and actor-lawyer Zelensky (who worked in Putin's Moscow media and doesn't speak Ukrainian language, just Russian and English) are Putin's groomed assets delivered by Putin by TV media. The Kremlin won-- playing their long game 20 years.
2
Rudy’s role is bizarre, but it is consistent with other ways DJT has made end runs around the institutional protections against authoritarians. For example, using acting directors to bypass congressional review.
In this case, RG, while conducting foreign policy as if he is Secretary of State, has avoided confirmation hearings, and will doubtless try to hide behind lawyer-client confidentiality protections if ever called to account.
40
@HGW
Yes, I am waiting for Congress to ask for Giuliani's notes on his discussions with the Ukrainians about his meetings with Ukrainians and I can already hear Giuliani's protests of Attorney Client privilege. Giuliani has already tried that defense to protect info about Trump from Robert Muller.
1
Trump figured he did all of this before and got away with it, why not do it again and expect those same results. To him, that IS a form of transparency..
35
The Ukrainian's watched Trump discrediting the US intelligence agencies and his cowering to Putin. Withholding military aid was a gift to Putin. The persistence by Trump's personal lawyer Guiliani for meetings was horrendous, a shadow government operating outside diplomatic channels, one that is pro Putin.
16
It appears the American president is taking orders from Putin and his very rich oligarchs. He has been shielding them from sanctions whenever possible. Deripaska was released from sanctions and immediately promised to build an aluminum factory in Moscow Mitch's state.
Holding back the American aid from Ukraine for help in incriminating Biden is grounds for impeachment. But so was firing Comey as Mueller implied in his report. The oligarch money that helped get Trump elected has been verified by others.
He has used his office to undo regulations on the fossil fuel industries and others who harm us and our environment, pulled out of the very necessary Iran nuclear agreement, and made enemies of our friends in Europe.
When he said "nationality over globalism," I thought, what does globalism mean? Does it mean mega-monopolies ruling over the globe with profit as their sole motive regardless of any harm to individuals; or perhaps the diverse nationalities coming together to negotiate the steep and thorny path toward world peace?
33
The phone call showed not Trump's obsession with Ukraine so much as it showed Putin's obsession with that country and Trump's subservience to him.
Donald is still dutifully prosecuting the Kremlin's claim that Russia had nothing to do with foreign interference in the 2016 election. Meanwhile, all the US intelligence services and those of our allies (the real ones, not North Korea or Saudi Arabia) have affirmed Russia's role.
To characterize Trump's negotiations with Zelensky as an indicator of Trump's personal obsession, not Putin's, does Trump the enormous favor of dismissing the treasonous aspect of his gambit.
Let's not do him that favor.
30
The collusion with Ukraine is directly related to Trump's sequence of secretive communications and meetings with Putin that seems to have begun well before his Presidency. The backdoor dealing between Trump and Putin has done inestimable damage to US foreign policy, placing the desires of Putin and his associated oligarchs above those of the United States. This is a complex story with scant evidence and few precise details to Trump's efforts to hide this pattern of behavior from his own nation's intelligence apparatus as well as its citizens. The media would do a great service to the United States if they can get to the bottom of the connections linking Trump, Putin, Russian oligarchs, and the Ukraine. This is a turning point in the history of the United States and if we don't get as many of the facts as we can now about the true intent of the Trump-Putin relationship, we may never know the truth about the rise of fascism in the United States and the untold damage being done to our relations with our allies around the world.
16
There are a couple more dots. Is Biden just the foil? Trump's relationship with Putin, his campaign's focused efforts before the election to change the Republican platform to reduce military support for Ukraine and Russia's continuing war with Ukraine....
1
Yes. Joe Biden carried out his task to promote Ukraine's clean-up of corruption on behalf of the European/American nations ready to provide funding for Ukrainian support. This is undisputed. Trump either doesn't understand the history, or, more probably, is trying to 'Benghazi' Biden with a series of endless investigations into virtuous behavior, each investigation demonstrating no wrong-doing, as with Sec of State Clinton, and spinning off yet another investigation of the prior investigation.
The Federalist considers Trump untouchable because, unlike Nixon, Trump is not involved in covering up this unpresidential and possibly illegal deed. Is he lying about 'pressure'? About leveraging half a billion in aid? Lying about the billions in aid to Ukraine from other countries? Was Trump involved in cover-ups and obstruction during the campaign and Russia probe? Read the Report.
3
Do not forget that Zelensky has no government experience. He is a comedian, a producer and, a writer. Putin is his enemy. Zalensky is probably scared to death with this affair and will do exactly whatever Trump wants.
If the call "showed only a slice of Trump's obsession with Ukaine", then there are many people involved in requesting foreign help for the 2020 re-election campaign.
9
The article's last paragraph is enough to justify impeachment. We see Trump encouraging a foreign country to keep Mr. Lutsenko, a corrupt prosecutor because Lutsenko can help Trump personally.
9
While Trump’s inquiries are certainly questionable, the true corruption here was on the part of our former Vice President and his son. I’ve also read since this came out, that Hunter’s Investmt Co was given 1.5 billion dollars in Chinese govt. money after joining Dad on a trip to a China on Airforce 2. Does no one care that this was a regular thing in the previous administration? It’s hard to comprehend the degree to which the Biden portion of this story is being played down by the media.
3
@mbcnyc: Where did you read this?
In reading the transcript, I must admit President Zelensky does not come off as the sharpest tool in the shed. The populists spirits now roaming the world today certainly have an uncanny ability to elect leaders that would have trouble holding jobs as a greeter at Walmart.
10
@Amanda
Even the Walmart jobs are not available anymore. Sorry.
2
A typical pattern of Donald Trump: once Trump holds a grudge, he keeps his eye on his target until he gets his retribution, regardless of who he damages during that period of time.
15
Come now. Trump has no particular interest in Ukraine, unless there are good beaches on the Black Sea. The interest is Mr. Putin’s.
4
The President of the United States should not be asking a foreign power to investigate the son of a political rival.
In addition, while it may have been "legal", it was wrong for Hunter Biden to accept a position, for which he was unqualified. Hunter Biden has made a career as a Washington lobbyist while Dad walked the halls of power. No One seems to care...it must be just the way things are done in Washington.
Why is legal and moral so hard for politicians to decipher?
They are all corrupt. The game is rigged.
3
@Robert
I hope We The People will squarely send Biden packing in the primaries. He is nothing but an establishment candidate now. His time is long gone. We need fresh new thinking and leaders.
3
In light of Trump's Ukraine obsession it strikes me as odd that in a 1 Aug. 2016 interview with George Stephanopoulos Trump assured him vehemently that Putin would never "go into" Ukraine (video on YouTube).
Steph replied that Putin had been in Ukraine since 2014, and Trump sputtered and clumsily tried to cover his usual vast geo-historical ignorance with a stab at Obama, because why not?
But it's passing strange that even Trump wouldn't know about the invasion and annexation of Ukraine by Putin. I think Ukraine might be a red herring; Trump's strings are still being pulled by Moscow.
3
I'd be interested to learn what financial ties Mr. Trump and his cohorts have in Ukraine. We already know that his campaign manager was involved. Tax returns please?
3
It appears that Trump's foreign policy is not only corrupt but madly driven by ignorance and conspiracy theories. This man's unfitness for office knows no bounds.
The expressions on Volodymyr Zelensky's face during the sit-down photo-op with Trump said it all, especially when Trump dismissively expressed his confidence that all Ukraine's issues with Russia could be worked out easily just by sitting down with Mr. Putin. It's a shame Mr. Zelensky has left behind his former profession as a comedian or he could have been sitting there gleefully gather material to ridicule Trump and America. As it is, he could only share our horror.
2
I’ll go out on a limb here and posit that when Zalinsky can speak freely, Trump’s true fealty will be revealed in all its vainglory.
It’s not that the Ukrainian Prime Minister has a better intelligence agency, it’s that he has the intelligence to see Putin for who he is, and Trump for what he is, and has been since before the election. I give the reader a scene from the Clinton/Trump debate wherein Trump reflexively and intensely cries in triplicate,” no your the puppet”. It didn’t require an intelligence agency to infer that Trump was projecting, and was obviously the puppet.
4
I really hope this newest incident does bring about some substantial and successful action regarding Trump and his administration. But we have been down this road before how many times before?
Everytime people think we have hit rock bottom with this president and his cronies, they prove us wrong and the bottom falls down ever further. All the while the parties involved playing everything with a straight face telling everyone that nothing untoward happened, they, especially Trump, being the victims of an irrational hatred or "derangement syndrome" as it were. The worst thing is that they got away with it.
Given the propensity of the Democrats to shoot themselves in the foot and snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory...colour me an unimpressed skeptic.
2
For President Trump, Ukraine has been an obsession since the 2016 campaign. For most of polite society, Russia has been an obsession since the 2016 campaign.
Giuliani seems to be the new "Michael Cohen", with the notable exception that Rudy will get a Presidential Pardon for his efforts.
4
This Luysenko guy was apparently Trump's corrupt partner that was Trump counted on to get him the made-up dirt. When he was fired by the new president, Trump went to plan B or damage control and hit up president Zelensky with the extortion and bribery scheme that is vividly shown in the July 25 phone call.
This article shows that Trump has ensnarled all of his cronies in government to assist in the crime, A "Z" (old 1972? movie") ending is unfolding.
Trump employed the Ukrainian government to undermine Joe Biden, somehow after many demonstrations of cognitive decline still regarded as his top opponent. Were the Ukrainians obliged to compile a salacious dossier on him? That would be bad. No, it involves some actual activity Biden would rather you not know, and woe betide anyone who inquires too closely.
Trump will be impeached. His cabinet is clearly complicit and will be next to go. They crossed the line. Even buffoons can be dangerous because ignorance and disregard for the constitution and the American people is intolerable. Add that to the fact that they have done nothing to "make America great." We are in a swamp of quicksand and news travels fast
2
How noble of Donald Trump to offer to help Zelensky battle corruption in Ukraine. He should instead focus on battling corruption in the United States. The best way he can do that is to resign.
4
Trump does not have either the desire or the ability to differentiate between political calculation and maneuvers to keep himself in office and the duty of executive governance of the nation. His political concerns always unquestionably take precedence over governance grounded in understanding of and commitment to what is good for the nation, whether it be in foreign or domestic policy. This reality forms an ironclad basis for impeachment and removal from office. We now have three years of copious evidence to support this conclusion. Congress must now connect the dots and put the narrative together in an organized, comprehensive, and comprehensible manner and finally exert its oversight responsibility to defend our country against an executive willing to sacrifice much of what makes us a viable democratic republic for his own political, personal, and business success.
39
Donald Trump has no interest in Ukraine. He has an interest in Donald Trump. He sought only to get compromising information on Biden and to weaken the former Soviet republic on behalf of his Russian partners.
131
Let the public hear a tape of the whole telephone conversation.
68
Since the Nixon tapes they no longer make recordings.
1
@William
There is no audio tape. Only the verbatim transcript "locked down" in a classified electronic filing system.
3
Clearly Trump is not just a genius but also a prophet, having known from the moment he was elected that Joe Biden would be his electoral nemesis in 2020. Since he is neither genius nor prophet, it is apparent that he was merely keeping a campaign promise to clean up the swamp. And as we all know, keeping campaign promise is definitely a high crime and misdemeanor as it makes all prior presidents look look like the manipulative liars they were.
4
Some people will go to great lengths to protect their party, even going so far as to make excuses. Trump believes that the investigation into Russian interference began in the Ukraine. He also believes that the DNC server is located there, and that the Clinton’s server is, too. Far from intelligent, he is a believer in conspiracy theories. Republicans have to step up and put our country before party.
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@JJ Gross Mr. Trump has personally made it his not-so-secret mission to make Washington, DC, far more swampier than it ever was before but far less beneficial than an actual swamp. Trump leaves a trail of corruption wherever he goes and has been doing so for decades before he became President.
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@JJ Gross That is the best piece of sarcasm I’ve read on the comment boards in months. You had me going for a moment when you pronounced Trump both a genius and a prophet. After a few more lines, I realized you were just setting us up for the punchline known as DJT.
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What is all this interest in Ukraine from Trump's government, Manafort, Giuliani, Biden's son? They all treat it as a rigged slot machine. Maybe there are connections? In politics coincidences are rare. I'm looking forward to some revelations here.
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Trump, crusader against corruption.
What a laugh.
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@Tom I have no doubt he is the most Corrupt President America has ever endured.
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@Tom, if Trump's corruption and abuse of power bothers you, then you can't ignore our former Vice President either. While in office, he teed up a 600k per yr job for his son at Ukraine's biggest gas company (where he doesn't live, has no experience in the field and doesn't speak the language). When the company was being investigated, Biden withheld 1 billion in aid from Ukraine until they fired the investigation prosecutor. Around the same time that Hunter got his no-show job, Biden brought him on a trip to China on Airforce 2. A week later, voila, Hunter's company received 1.5 BILLION dollars from the Chinese govt. In this latest scandal, I'm not sure who is worse, Trump or Biden.
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The press is asking the wrong questions of the president.
" Mr. President, Your campaign manager was convicted of money laundering funds that he received from Ukraine , and laundered in a Cypriat bank who's president was your commerce secretary,Wilbur Ross. Are you concerned with that corruption ?"
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@King Philip, His majesty
Wow! Of course. Yes. It’s hard to keep track of all those dots when there are so many.
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@King Philip, His majesty
A different news organization is reporting that there's a second whistle blower. Apparently this person, also a federal employee, reported to the Ways and Means committee that there's been influence to hide Trump's tax returns.
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In his campaign rally / press conference Trump didn't address his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his corrupt ties to Ukraine.
The piece of paper with Paul Manafort's name and a $600,000 figure next to it.
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Paul Manafort was tried in a US court and eventually plead guilty. The key evidence were financial records showing the money he had received from foreign sources and not reported as income as well as acting as a lobbyist for foreign countries without registering. The notebook may have triggered the investigation but he accepted his guilt. Rudy Giuliani is one of Trump’s lawyers has been acting as a US diplomat. I am not sure this is illegal but certainly have never seen this before. Given his actions it would seem the President is using the resources of the government for his own political purposes. How does what Biden did or did not do back in 2015 have anything to do with national security today?
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@Daniel Salazar While Trump is clearly using his position to gain information on Biden’s activities in Ukraine, Biden did worse while he was in office. As VP, he withheld a billion dollars in aid to Ukraine unless they stopped investigating the Ukrainian Gas Co where Hunter served on the board. He had the investigating prosecutor fired! And how on earth does the child of the VP get a job like that in a country like Ukraine? Please.
Rudy as diplomat is indeed illegal and violates the Logan Act
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@mbcnyc It seems you are lacking evidence for this accusation.
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This new scandal no longer seems separate from the Mueller inquiry, at least not entirely. Clearly the president continues to be obsessed with promoting Putin’s narrative that “Russian interference” is a hoax; perhaps orchestrated by their adversary Ukraine. Whether Americans can be convinced or not is an open question. I do not think that the Congressional leadership should be overly concerned with that. Presidential overreach must be checked or the office risks evolving into an emperorship. Congress must reassert itself as a relevant governing power.
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@Eric Anderson, Ukraine is not a friend to Russia. It is, in fact, an enemy. Trump’s sanctions against Russia were also discussed on the phone with the Ukrainian PM. The Ukrainian PM thanked Trump for keeping the pressure on Russia.
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"Striking while the iron's hot"—
Means canceling the House's upcoming two-week break.
It's that important.
[And Republicans should also want to deal with this as quickly as possible, especially with their primaries coming up.]
If Republican senators agree, Trump could be rather quickly gone—like a Nixon scenario, where he was told they had the votes and resigned.
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@srwdm Herr Trump's ego is too big for him to resign. In a possible really scary scenario (and not all that unlikely), he could enflame his base and his extremist far right supporters so much as to spark a rebellion.
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@srwdm I wouldn't be overly optimistic about Republican senator's changing their public support of Mr. Trump. Beyond the inertia that their positions encourage, they are terrified to face the social media onslaught that would inevitably follow from Mr. Trump's rabidly loyal base.
That kind of change wouldn't just endanger your re-election, but make you fear for you your family's personal safety.
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@srwdm
Unfortunately, Trump has a strong incentive not to resign. As President he is shielded from criminal charges he could face as a private citizen. He might not want to risk being dependent on a pardon by President Pence (or President Pelosi).
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