The Washington Post has obtained and published Ambassador Taylor’s opening statement to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The link to it is here. And the pdf can be directly accessed from Balloon Juice below.
Ambassador_Taylor_Opening_Statment
Open thread!
Cheryl Rofer
Many thanks to the Washington Post reporter who photographed it and got it to their editors quickly.
Cheryl Rofer
germy
Ambassador Taylor looks like someone I’d see in a balloon-juice meetup photo.
Cheryl Rofer
It’s clear that Trump was directing the operation throughout.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: That was the real deliverable. Publicly announcing the investigation at a press conference. Then running the clip over and over in ads for broadcast TV, cable TV, digital and social media. Then running clips of all the coverage about the scandal being investigated in ads that built on the initial advertisements. Than pushing Facebook ads directly to people of all the reporting.
Mary G
I have just glanced at page 1 of the .pdf, and what a resume. Fifty years of service in the federal government. And Twitler has run hundreds of them out. IT IS BEYOND ENRAGING.
??????
NickM
Seems pretty devastating to me. Taylor is a West Point grad, Vietnam vet, served with the 101st Airborne. He has witnesses for virtually every unlawful act he lists. Many are in writing. It’s a roadmap to investigate and probe for more evidence but it shouldn’t be necessary- it’s clear what happened.
Cheryl Rofer
It’s worth noting again that no quid pro quo is necessary. Trump’s asking for campaign help from a non-US source is itself impeachable.
But it’s clear there’s a quid pro quo too – the military aid won’t be forthcoming unless Zelensky makes a public promise (“to box him in”) on tv to investigate Burisma.
lgerard
It is absolutely damning, and it ties Mick Mulvaney into the scam.
i still want to know exactly how Sondland got involved in this to begin with, I find that aspect very strange.
It is amazing the lengths that supposedly smart people went to to appease the obviously deranged trump
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: Also Trump says the words “to box him in”, implying that he will continue to beat Zelensky over the head with that promise and probably withhold aid in the future.
Mary G
hueyplong
You say quid pro quo, I say extortion.
rikyrah
15 pages…
dayum!
Blessed are the notetakers…
they might help us sink these muthaphuckas yet.
germy
Our fourth estate:
Cheryl Rofer
@lgerard: It has long been a practice of both parties to give ambassadorships to big donors. Sondland donated a million dollars to Trump’s campaign.
Why Sondland wanted the ambassadorship to the EU, beyond being able to throw big parties, is unclear. He said something to a European ambassador about wanting to bust up the EU, so there may be some ideology there, or he may be repeating what Trump told him his job was. Presumably Trump saw Sondland as a person who would do his bidding.
But yes, there may be more to it than that.
rikyrah
@lgerard:
tee hee hee
germy
MattF
Just read it, and bear in mind that Giuliani is Trump’s personal lawyer. And the phone call transcript makes it clear that Giuliani is the person to ‘talk’ to. Could this sequence of events be any clearer? The dots, they connect themselves.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: The President’s MO. Force someone to a capitulation point. If they capitulate, then the President owns them. He knows he can get them to keep compromising themselves for him and therefore he can get them to do anything he wants.
TaMara (HFG)
That little video clip was everything.
germy
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: Also Mob MO
ETA: And Putin MO
germy
Mary G
One of the president’s biggest defenders is speaking:
That makes “the dog at my homework” look like Pulitzer Prize material.
ETA: the replies are good
Betty Cracker
Mr. Taylor comes across as smart, competent, non-partisan and professional. The letter illustrates how deeply he cares about Ukraine and U.S. national security. In other words, he’s the exact opposite of Trump and the bungling nitwits who subverted our foreign policy for domestic political purposes, and we’re as lucky to have people like Taylor representing us abroad as we’re unfortunate to be led by a wannabe mob boss and his gang of simpering toadies.
So, now that quid pro quo has been established to a fare-thee-well, where will Republicans relocate the goalposts? My guess is they’ll note Ukraine got the aid in the end anyway and say that while shaking down foreign governments for personal political gain is “inappropriate,” it’s not “impeachable,” and besides, there’s an election next year, yada yada yada…
We’ve got to be prepared to push back on that nonsense. Americans get to elect their leaders without outside interference, period, or we no longer have a democracy — that should be the overarching message. And we should also emphasize the enormous damage this has already done to our international reputation and to the 2020 race.
Ella in New Mexico
@Mary G:
Like all the other hardworking, decent, quality federal employees across this Administration who have been bullied or pushed out, I still hold out the hope that the damage is not done; that either they will resume their careers back in a healthy Administration or be replaced by people just like them.
Nothing lasts forever.
Martin
To focus this down:
The Constitution limits grounds of impeachment to “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”
This was bribery. Stop calling it collusion or a campaign finance violation or campaign help or whatever. It’s straight up bribery using the taxpayer money instead of his own. Bribery is clearly impeachable. Don’t let them wordsmith this.
Gin & Tonic
I’ve noted before, Taylor is not just a really smart guy and a first-rate public servant, he’s a good person as well. He met and spoke with my son in a professional setting in Boston a year ago; he met him again in Kyiv last month, and immediately recalled his name and his research topic. He’s somebody you can go to the well with.
Sab
@Adam L Silverman: I don’t even understand what you are saying. ( Not critisizing you.) I just know that I know folks deployed right now and I am furious and heartsick.
Putting people and their families through these deployments? Toddlers who have barely met their parents? For what? So we can bail on allies because the Pres wants to protect his hotel investment in Istanbul?
Martin
@Ella in New Mexico: It comes with the territory. I’ve been forced out of two jobs, and will likely get forced out of this one as well. People understand when you apply for new stuff.
MattF
@Betty Cracker: I imagine that the goalposts will be moved to an alternative space-time continuum. You know, all those conspiracy theories? Well, take a deep breath.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Yep and yep.
Martin
@Adam L Silverman: The president likely knows that MO based on how well it’s been deployed against him.
J R in WV
Ambassador Taylor’s opening statement document was clearly photographed by a cell phone. You can see the shadow of the cell phone in the lower left on most pages I have read so far. It is amazing to have a major national security document reproduced from a closed hearing in this manner, and posted on the internet before the closed hearings are even completed.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a thing with my own eyes. Thanks for the link, Adam! And thanks to the innertubes for making the publication possible.
No wonder the R’s are getting nervous!
Mary G
If Mom’s Demand Action and Democratic candidates can get permission from the mom, this would be a devastating ad.
Poor baby.
hueyplong
@Betty Cracker: Going to his 2016 playbook, MMcC might refuse to conduct a trial, saying that the issue “will be decided by the American people.”
lgerard
@Cheryl Rofer:
That doesn’t really answer the question though, does it? Sondland wasn’t involved in the campaign to any extent, and his contribution came after the fact for the inauguration. I understand that his appointment was actually promoted by the national party and by badgering the establishment republicans.
How did he go from being a celebrity functionary to the inner circle of trumpiness with the ability to push aside the State Department and the NSC and run this operation?
I don’t suppose we will ever get an answer to this, but if I was on that committee this is the first question I would have asked and I would not have given up until I got an answer.
PJ
@Betty Cracker: It’s good to know that there are still professional, competent (excellent note-taker!), non-corrupt people with backbone still working for the government, but we know too many have been forced out or have had to quit because they didn’t want to compromise their principles.
zhena gogolia
I was just reading it. So devastating.
MattF
@hueyplong: That’s rather dangerous. Better to get it all over as fast as possible and then turn the noise machine up to eleventy trillion.
rikyrah
@Martin:
clap clap clap clap clap
Adam L Silverman
@Sab: I’m actually on standby, again…, to deploy. I got asked about two months ago. Odds are, like the line from the song, I “ain’t going nowhere”. And I was asked to deploy by a friend, colleague, and former student who thinks he and his Soldiers need my assistance.
Let me try to clarify. The President manipulates and controls people by giving them a choice to either do the unethical and/or unprofessional and/or illegal thing he wants them to do or to stand by their principles. Basically he’s trying to compromise them. If he can compromise them, then he both has something to hold over them (blackmail them with) and he knows he can keep getting them to do more compromising things. Those that won’t allow themselves to be compromised, he doesn’t hire/allow within his organization. Or if he has no real choice but to hire them or keep them on, he forces out as soon as he can or he makes life so miserable that they leave.
Does that make more sense?
rikyrah
@Mary G:
Oh my Lord. :( :( :(
Sab
@Mary G: I hate guns. So many kids in my small city gone for no reason. And I am mourning high school, not toddlers.
How does a parent ever recover from that loss?
Mary G
Grifters all the way down, and another count in the impeachment: (WaPo) Defense Secretary Mark Esper recuses himself from Pentagon cloud review, citing son’s employment
The dam has broken and now comes the flood.
Cheryl Rofer
@lgerard: I agree that more answers are needed. But for now, the important thing is how the events played out and Trump’s role in them.
It’s unlikely Taylor knows why Sondland was selected. But others might, and the depositions have been running ten hours in length. Lots of questions can be asked in ten hours.
Adam L Silverman
@Martin: People also don’t like competent people that can’t be compromised and actually think it is professional to do the job and do it well.
PPCLI
@Mary G: Sorry Senator. The Jubilation T. Cornpone act may help you weasel out of most things, but people are going to want serious answers to this one.
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: Ambassador Taylor has been doing this for 50 years in one form or another. That wasn’t just left where it could be photographed, page after page, by accident. Ambassador Taylor wanted his statement made public, but wants plausible deniability of how it got out there. So he laid it out on the table next to him, one page at a time, face up in the hope someone would image it and publish it. Just like he maneuvered Sondland and Volker to put everything in the text messages to create a real time paper trail and then got Sondland back on the record with his “per our phone call” text when Sondland tried to stop texting.
trollhattan
@Mary G:
That’s what he said. [rimshot]
Barbara
@Cheryl Rofer: I read that his first choice was a German speaking country, which would be highly inappropriate for someone of his background. I assume he considered EU to be okay since, basically, Germany has outsize influence within the alliance.
@lgerard: Again, based on what I read, Sondland is apparently a magician as a fundraiser. The party wanted to reward him even though he only supported Trump later, as in, after the election.
Ella in New Mexico
@Martin: I hear you. Fortunately husband is a 30+ yr career Federal Employee, but nowhere near at a level where these kinds of politics are likely to touch him–unless Trump or his regime somehow find a way to stay in power.
That’s not gonna happen. And the Dems will take over. Just like under Obama, they’ll fix the place up. Things will get better. Hopefully, if we’re smart, we’ll keep them in power long enough to enact laws better protecting Federal employees from this kind of bullshit political intrusion into their jobs.
I have at least three adult kiddos waiting for a safe time to be able to serve in a Federal agency dealing with the environment. When it becomes clear that it happened and the jobs open up, they’ll apply and work their hearts out for all of us. Just like you will. :-)
Mary G
I has bad eyes and trouble reading the .pdf, but Laura Rozen is tweeting in this thread:
Mary G
Mary G
Literally a whole warehouse full of smoking guns:
Mary G
PPCLI
@Betty Cracker:
They might, faute de mieux. But hopefully it will be regularly pointed out that the aid was suddenly, inexplicably released just when the WH learned that the whistleblower complaint would come out. Which seems to suggest consciousness of guilt.
And speaking of consciousness of guilt, let’s revisit Sondland’s text replying to the Taylor text saying it’s crazy to withhold aid for political advantage. How suspicious does it look, in light of today’s testimony that instead of replying “Huh? I literally have no idea what you are talking about.”, Sondland waits for five hours plus, calls the pres, and replies with lawyer’s boilerplate stating the President has been explicit in denying a quid pro quo, and telling Taylor to stop texting and call instead.
PJ
@Adam L Silverman: To paraphrase Stringer Bell, if you are part of a criminal f*cking conspiracy, do not take any notes. If, on the other hand, you are not part of a criminal conspiracy (or other unethical or abusive activity) but see it happening in front of you, you want to document everything you can.
J R in WV
Now I’ve finished reading Amb. Taylor’s document. It is an excellent piece of work, and shows his ability to concentrate a wide variety of issues into a single point. I expect it also shows that his testimony in answer to the Committee’s questions will be as on point and forceful as his opening statement is.
His short bio on page one is also impressive, with 50 years of service beginning as a cadet at West Point, an infantry officer in the ‘Nam, etc. And willing to do whatever it takes to help Ukraine in their war with Russia. Unlike some others in power in our government.
Interesting times we are living in!
rikyrah
@Cheryl Rofer:
Say it for the bleacher seats!
Mary G
Just Chuck
@Mary G: Click on the PDF to download it. The conversion to text is flawless, so it’s as crisp as can be, and zoomable too.
J R in WV
@hueyplong:
Moscow Mitch has said in the very recent past that he will be compelled by the Constitution to hold a trial, should Impeachment be voted out by the House. Not that he hasn’t lied to the world before, but that does mean something in this instance.
Cheryl Rofer
Excellent threaded summary of the Taylor opening statement.
Betty Cracker
@Gin & Tonic: I remember you saying that when his name first surfaced, and his testimony certainly bears out his character as you described it. If you have time, I’d be interested in your thoughts on how this shit-show is perceived in Ukraine. The impression I get from what little I’ve read on that perspective is that people are disillusioned with Zelensky, which seems unfair, but maybe they have good reason. I don’t know. As an American, I’m deeply ashamed that our corrupt shithead of a “president” dragged Ukraine into this mess and demonstrated such callous disregard for Ukraine’s safety (and our own long-term security).
rikyrah
@Adam L Silverman:
tell it, Silverman.
yes!
rikyrah
@Mary G:
You are cracking me up..LOL
Mary G
WaPo has had one of their photo editors clean up the .pdf so I can read it here.
ETA: better answer, thanks @Just Chuck:
Kay
Nancy keeps bringing up China, which makes sense- both Trump and Rudy repeatedly mentioned China as a country they were interested in helping them with their political campaign.
Come on- we all know they made some sleazy deal on trade. It’s a given at this point.
ChrisS
Weird that they were conducting US foreign policy using WhatsApp. I thought that the GOP considered unsecured email was tantamount to treason.
rikyrah
@PJ:
Not, The Wire…LOL
PJ
@J R in WV: If there isn’t enough political pressure to force him to have a trial, there won’t be enough political pressure to convict, so the end result would be the same – the Democrats would just have to run on “Republicans are protecting Trump from a trial because they know he is guilty” rather than, “Republicans are protecting Trump from removal from office even though the evidence is clear he is guilty.”
J R in WV
@Adam L Silverman:
Actually, I loved working with people who were proud to be professional and were uncompromising. That’s who we tried to hire, in every case. Sometimes we missed, but not often.
No offense, I know what you mean… you’re talking about people who intend to break the law, or at least distort the rules. Yes, they hate running into an honest person!
ETA: In 20 years doing hiring interviews with a couple of co-workers as a 3 person committee, we only fouled up drastically one time. I also had to let a contractor who wasn’t able to use our tool-set go after a 2 week trial period. He wasn’t able to be productive, and had a friend do his phone interview because he knew he didn’t really know the ins and outs of the tools. I still hated it.
PJ
@ChrisS: Vlad needs to be able to listen in.
Kay
@ChrisS:
No one actually cares about secure communications. We know that because they all completely dropped it after Clinton.
It’s like the terrifying, scary caravans, or ebola! Things that only appear when Democrats need beating. Put it in that basket.
SFAW
Don’t have time to read all of Taylor’s statement, but what I was (so far) able to get through is pretty … interesting.
But all you Lie-berals talking about “quid pro quo” — get over it. The Russian-Asset-in-Chief never used the words “quid” or “quo.” And he only used “pro” when talking about baseball. Game, set, and touchdown, libtards.
Kay
Also, I regret to inform you this means Sondland is a huge liar and should be sanctioned for lying in sworn testimony.
Another low quality hire! Trump sure can pick ’em. To a man or woman- huge liars.
PJ
@Kay: Or the debt. Dick Cheney: “Deficits don’t matter” on the way to racking up more than $1trillion in war debt. Barely a peep about the $1 trillion deficit Trump’s tax cut will cause. Journalists to any Democratic candidate: “But how will you pay for universal health care?!!!”
ETA: I’m sure Republicans are silently outraged about this but keep forgetting to mention it to the press: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/us/politics/deficit-will-reach-1-trillion-next-year-budget-office-predicts.html
Mary G
O/T but cracked me up:
J R in WV
@Adam L Silverman:
That would have been terribly obvious during the hearing, reaching out with a cell phone beside the witness. I prefer to believe the document was handed out at the very beginning of the hearing, and a staffer was provided the doc by their Congressman, so it could have been done more privately. Less conspicuously.
But perhaps the Amb. provided many copies to the committee, hoping or even asking someone to provide a copy to the Post. I would think being subtle would have been a priority. We may never know who actually used their phone to do it.
smintheus
@PJ: Answer: “The same way Republicans pay for all their policies, with tax cuts.”
Ella in New Mexico
@Betty Cracker:
First thought reading your comment is that THIS disillusionment in Zelensky is EXACTLY what Putin wants and desperately needed to come out of this adorable little conspiracy: MUWA or Make Ukraine Weak Again.
In addition to shitting all over American democracy of course.
VOR
@Martin:
The Clinton impeachment established quite clearly that lying about a consensual sexual affair was a high crime or misdemeanor. It can be whatever is politically viable, no matter how the current Republicans scream about it. I think 20 year old Lindsey Graham comments ought to be run every time a Republican tries to move the goalposts.
But I agree with your larger point. This is bribery, pure and simple, whether the magic words “quid pro quo” were said or not.
lgerard
@Betty Cracker:
i am certainly no expert on this, but my impression is that Zelensky is seen as too sympathetic to the Russians and too eager to normalize the current occupation. It doesn’t help that trump and even some Europeans are pushing him in that direction.
cokane
trying to dampen my hopes, but this one really does feel like a watershed moment. i’m not sure we’re at 67 votes in the Senate yet, but I definitely think a few Republicans may vote for removal when it gets there. And there’s still more to come, I expect. Not to mention when they actual draft the articles there’s going to be more than just Ukraine.
Mary G
@Kay:
Now is it just me, or wouldn’t someone who was owed money not be writing another check to the borrower?
PJ
@Mary G: With Trump, everyone owes America (Trump) something, so why should he be nice to them and not let their country burn down unless they give him a little something? It’s no different than any other racket he’s been in.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: Or the drone war, which ceased to be a matter of import to the True Left the moment Trump entered office.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
Right. And whistleblowers! They used to love them.
These people are just very fickle and… unreliable. I wouldn’t even bring them into a criminal conspiracy. You can’t trust them.
Another Scott
Thanks for the links. I read the Taylor statement.
I don’t know why anyone should be shocked by what’s in it at this point. But it’s good that he was able to clearly, and unequivocally, state what was going on.
Everyone of Donnie’s people named in it should be testifying before Congress. Including Perry.
Cheers,
Scott.
TS (the original)
@Adam L Silverman:
To me if definitely does and it describes the mind and soul of trump extremely well. It also explains the b.s. of the sessions where very senior administration officials bow their heads and tell him how wonderful he is. This is medieval England level plotting – unbelievable except that it is happening.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay:
Those weren’t actual whistleblowers. Those were sources. Actual whistleblowers work within the whistleblower laws and regulations. That is not what Chelsea Manning did, not what Snowden did, unfortunately for her not what Reality Winner did. It is what the two current Intelligence Community whistleblowers are doing. It is what the IRS whistleblower is doing.
Kay
I keep thinking about one of the criminals paying Giuliani “500,000” dollars. The number Rudy said. I mean, half a million dollars is a lot of money but Giuliani has 6 houses. He has tens of millions. If he’d stop getting divorced every 15 minutes he could hang onto most of it and he’s ancient anyway. He won’t outlive his ill-gotten gains.
He sold out his country for half a million? That’s cheap. It’s embarrassing.
Yutsano
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s tempting sometimes…
Yutsano
Plz to unmoderate for fat finger of e-mail address…
PJ
@Kay: For anyone who’s willing to sell out their country for dollars, the price is always cheap. (Think of how much money was flushed down the toilet on weapons and armies during the Cold War, when all the Politburo needed to do was start funneling money to the NRA and evangelicals.) Christ, what is Erdogan offering Trump – the right to build a hotel in Istanbul? Any real developer could get that for next to nothing with tax breaks thrown in.
lgerard
@Kay:
Even more embarrassing is that 8 seconds of due diligence would have told Rudy that a guy with Lev’s track record of dubious employment and evictions didn’t have half a million.
Rudy is the guy who travels around the world advising others on “security”
NotMax
@cokane
The Constitution specifies a vote of 2/3 of the senators present. Be a helluva thing if the Dolt 45 sycophants elected to boycott the vote and 2/3 of those who are present voted to convict, wouldn’t it?
Article I, Section 3: …And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present.
Kay
@Adam L Silverman:
I didn’t buy the wikileaks theory of transparency not because I’m especially law-abiding but because there were no checks on them. It’s entirely at their discretion what should be revealed and what shouldn’t.
I have to trust these individuals to live in this libertarian dream and I don’t. Trust them. Predictably, they abused it. They used it to insert themselves in a political campaign and swing it to Trump. I require more due process than they’re offering. They rely so much on biography – the supposed bravery and pure nature of their motives- because there’s no process involved in their vision of governance. There’s no way to appeal their decisions.
We don’t know anything about the Trump whistleblower but we do know this- he/she submitted to legal process. The whistleblower was willing to submit to a set of rules that are designed to ensure everyone has rights. I don’t have to rely on the inherent goodness of the whistleblower as a person. I can rely on the process to sort out the wheat from the chaff.
Uncle Cosmo
@Martin: Isn’t it really extortion? A shakedown? A protection racket? The aid package had already been signed into law, the money is there to disburse – but Ah, ah, ah, (pulling check back) – you don’t get it unless you do this favor for me… Not that extorting a foreign government’s intervention in a US election by withholding taxpayer funds isn’t a “high crime,” just a different one. /nitpick
Keith P.
@Kay: According to his wife’s lawyer, the Giuliani family went through about $250k per month. Per month.
Mary G
@Kay: His wife said in their divorce proceedings that although he pays her $40,000 a MONTH in spousal support, she wants $230,000 a MONTH, because that’s what they spent while they were married. Either number is obscene. They both need to have their taxes raised to 90%, but I suspect, like Twitler, that he’s in hock up to his eyeballs, and working for Putin.
Martin
@Kay: I’m worth a fair bit of money, but have never earned a lot of money. How rich you are is as much or more a product of how much you spend, rather than how much you earn. If you’re really styling, you’re earning it faster than you can possibly spend it, but we’ve had two family friends go from 8 figure and 9 figure net worths to 0 inside of a year because they made terrible decisions and blew it all when the income fell off a cliff.
Rudes is the personality type that would blow through whatever he gets his hands on so even if he’s got it coming in faster than me (by a LOT), I bet I’m WAY less vulnerable to compromise than he is because he needs it, where I don’t. He’s the kind of guy the Russians love. That was Manafort with his rugs and his suits and whatever. It’s also Trump and his kids, and I think also guys like Flynn who probably felt he finally got his payday after a long-ass time being a modest military man.
Jeffro
@Kay:
It always ends up that way, doesn’t it?
Crooks get UNBELIEVABLE returns on their ‘investments’ in crooked politicians, that’s for sure.
Adam L Silverman
@Yutsano: @Kay: Sure, but it doesn’t actually fix anything. Wagons get circled even faster and more securely if you feed it to the press. The latter might get you a sinecure somewhere. Or it might get you an all expense paid exile in Moscow because you were actually a pawn in a hostile foreign power’s intelligence operation against your own country. Or it might get you a prison sentence because Glenn Greenwald is an asshat who burned Reality Winner because he’s 50 lbs of stupid shitbird in a 5 lbs bag and doesn’t really care about American democracy, just his own self aggrandizement and enrichment. But it doesn’t actually fix the problems you’re concerned with. Or in the case of Chelsea Manning, things that aren’t really problems except within the untreated melange of mental illness within your brain.
Real whistleblowers actually assume real risks by working within and through the system. They rarely get fame or fortune or even a modicum of security out of trying to get whatever is wrong fixed. If they’re lucky they get to keep their jobs. If they’re not, they don’t. But they can look themselves in the mirror and sleep well at night. Except, perhaps, the night before the bills have to be paid on whatever salary or wages they’re able to bring in now that by doing the right thing in the right way, they’ve wrecked their careers.I have been living this reality since August 2015.
Cheryl Rofer
@Another Scott: I think the clarity of Trump’s participation was what shocked the Representatives in the committee.
Mary G
rikyrah
???
D’Ag due (@ag_due) Tweeted:
Hi ho the quid pro quo
The assholes said, “Pelosi’s gotta go!”
She took her time so she could get it right
And that made the blue checks extremely uptight
And now we see what we always knew
She’s the fucking boss, and who the fuck are you https://twitter.com/ag_due/status/1186755182840950784?s=17
Martin
@Yutsano: It’s how my dad retired. He spent about a decade meticulously building a file against his employer, and on the way out the door stopped by the IRS office and retired off of his finders fee.
Kay
Arguably Democrats would get a hell of a lot out of impeachment proceedings if they just get the senate. Trump and Trumpiness won’t save those GOP Senators in blue and purple states and it’s a real conundrum for them because they either lose their base and definitely lose or lose their margin with non-Trumpist voters and probably lose. Trump screwed them but good.
chopper
@Mary G:
how does that metaphor work with trump, who never pays what he owes ever?
Sab
@Cheryl Rofer: @germy: Anybody read Ronan Farrows’ book yet? NSO sort of there.
Kay
@Jeffro:
They do. Especially in state legislatures. You can buy THE WATER in Ohio for 25,000. The life-giving, essential water. Purchased for a price that won’t even get you a new car.
Adam L Silverman
@Sab: That’s Black Cube, which is a different Israeli private intel and security firm. Though my understanding is there’s some overlap with the owners/board of directors.
Mike in DC
In order to push this to the point of removal, we need Republican and Republican leaning independent support for it to hit somewhere between 20 and 40 percent. Half of them are a lost cause, and a smaller portion just won’t commit to removal, but up to 40 percent are still persuadable. Primarily non-Fox viewers and non-fundies.
Mary G
Nancy SMASH is a master. Now she’s in a country Twitler’s probably refused to go to:
Another Scott
@Cheryl Rofer: They could only be shocked if they weren’t paying attention. He told us all explicitly.
It was clear that he would break any norm, and law against breaking into computer systems, to get “help” with his 2016 election.
And he still feels that way today. He is willing to use any legal, or illegal, choke-point to get “oppo research” on anyone he doesn’t like. None of this 15 page PDF is surprising to me. If Congressmen and women are still shocked by this, I really wonder where they’ve been the last 4+ years.
Good for Taylor for making them pay attention.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Martin
@Uncle Cosmo: Extortion and bribery are fundamentally the same thing. It’s leverage against another person – one via threat and the other via promise. Constitution says ‘bribery’. Call it bribery. Don’t wordsmith it for them.
debbie
@lgerard:
Where the hell is Ivanka?
debbie
@Cheryl Rofer:
Trump has never delivered on his promises.
Frankensteinbeck
It’s funny and frustrating to me that people focus almost exclusively on the Biden part of what Trump wanted Ukraine to do. ‘2016 election interference’ is hurried through the conversation because what those words actually mean is so completely fucking insane and stupid that even most liberals don’t want to face that Trump thinks there’s a hard drive with the 30,000 deliberately lost Hillary Clinton emails that reveal her crimes, including that she framed Trump for colluding with Russia in 2016.
@PJ:
It could be anything, but honestly? I’m guessing Erdogan offered Trump nothing at all. He asked for it in a flattering way, and Trump thought that pulling out of the area and letting Erdogan commit genocide on the Kurds sounded awesome.
Mary G
NotMax
OT.
As predicted.
Fleeting Expletive
@lgerard: Re Sondland: My understanding is that he originally fell out of favor as a Republican honcho b/c he was unhappy about T’s treatment of the Khan family, and then he had to make up for it by giving $$ to the inauguration committee. From there, it just happened that he was available and amenable to do whatever was wanted anywhere in Europe. He was a made man in the organization, you might say.
catclub
@NotMax:
but the stupid filibuster rule is “you need 60 votes” nevermind half the senators are out of town. thus you can lose 54-29, when only 60-22 wins.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay:
Pretty amazing how all these self proclaimed freedom loving Libertarians can find no fault in Putin. One man, one vote and that man’s name is Vladimir I suppose.
catclub
@Frankensteinbeck:
nevermind that the 30000 emails were all from no later than 2012. Time-traveling Obama fixes that problem.
NotMax
FYI.
Will be published with an author credit of “Anonymous.”
emrys
@Mary G: The owe doesn’t have to be monetary. Wouldn’t the owe in this case be the public statement that Ukraine is looking into the Bidens? Do that, then you get the check.
debbie
@Cheryl Rofer:
Has Gym Jordan shrieked his outrage at Taylor’s testimony yet? //
NotMax
@catclub
Filibuster rules do not apply. the Senate has a set of expressly delineated rules solely for application in impeachment trials.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: Watch for the DOJ to file suit to prevent its publication because it did not go through the required pre-publication review.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Kay:
Speaking of the Ohio legislature:
Manning to run for re-election; Boccieri consider challenge
The guy ran last year as a Trumpist to get elected. Both of my state reps are Repukes now and I hate it.
The article doesn’t mention that Manning is also the sponsor of a bill in the state House that would ban localities from using eminent domain to seize properties for improvements, such a bike trails, in the entire state.
By the way, Kay, what do you think of DeWine’s Red Flag proposal?
debbie
@Another Scott:
He’s been breaking norms his entire adult life. Seriously, people show you who they are.
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: Someone has to read it to him first. He’s not on the Intel committee.
debbie
@catclub:
Wasn’t there a NYT article on page A16 that confirmed the emails were nothingburgers?
lgerard
So Anonymous is now coming out with a book?
It is safe to reveal yourself dude
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/22/politics/anonymous-trump-official-book/index.html
Mary G
@NotMax: You called it.
Frankensteinbeck
@catclub:
Oh, Hell, I think one of the reasons people hurry past this part averting their eyes – despite Trump having spoken about it in public more than the Biden aspect – is that he’s confused multiple different insane conspiracy theories as all one thing. It’s not just pants-on-head crazy, it’s dumber-than-a-stump stupid. People instinctively dismiss that it’s possible to be that insane and that stupid. They don’t want to face it and hurry to a crime they can at least imagine themselves committing, like framing Biden’s son.
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
Pity. I see Nunes is the “ranking” member of the Minority, yet there’s nothing on his Twitter feed. Uh oh.
Bill Arnold
@Adam L Silverman:
Do we know it was done this way? The distortions look weird to me, e.g. is there a filter to add random distortions to document photos? (It would make dumb OCR fail I expect.) All pages were captured.
Just wonder, and it was an excellent read.
Matt McIrvin
@Frankensteinbeck: The whole reason the Comey letter even existed is that Russian hackers realized that Republicans looking for “Hillary’s missing emails”, which of course nobody could actually provide, would take any email whatsoever associated with Hillary Clinton as an adequate substitute.
Adam L Silverman
@Bill Arnold: I don’t know for sure it was done that way, I wasn’t there. But he seems to have made sure it could get out. And that’s the point.
waysel
@Bill Arnold: Looks like it was a stapled together bunch, with pages folded back one at a time, and a cell phone shadow is cast on each page. I’m a bit concerned it was a GOP ratfuck leak. That bit about the investigation attempting to conceal testimony from crooks that have yet to testify so said crooks won’t know the best lies to tell ahead of time makes sense to me.Too late now, in any case.
waysel
I assume each committee member had a copy at the table. I assume no reporters were invited. I hope it was a move by the good guys, with full knowledge of the predicted effect of ‘leaking’ it.
Bill Arnold
@Adam L Silverman:
Agreed. And the WaPo cleaned up version looks good. (Did not know tools were that good and quick, good to know.)
I’m tempted to watch Fox News tonight (with the sound off!!!). to see the early spin live.
Cheryl Rofer
@debbie: Not that I’ve seen, but Representative Jody Hice has.
Tom Q
@NotMax: Wow. Count me impressed.
Bill Arnold
@Cheryl Rofer:
Lovely. In this case, the extortionist is still in control of both the US military and the US foreign policy apparatus.
DJT is still a threat to Ukraine, arguably an existential threat.
Zelensky is saying what he needs to say.
Barbara
@Martin: You also likely don’t have the propensity to get divorced every 15 years and “trade up” to an ever more expensive model.
Barbara
@Adam L Silverman: Just wanted to say thanks for living your principles.
debbie
@Cheryl Rofer:
Sigh. There’s always someone to step up to the plate, isn’t there?
debbie
@NotMax:
Impressive.
I know you don’t do Twitter, but you might want to make an exception and read this thread:
Adam L Silverman
@Barbara: You’re welcome. I’m one of the fortunate ones. And what I stood up for/about is a small, minor issue that, to be honest, had been created not out of malice, but out of ignorance. I am also fortunate that I have the ways and means to survive doing what I did. The real heroes are the two Intelligence Community whistleblowers and the IRS whistleblower. What I was involved in trying to get fixed happened in 2015 and I don’t have a vindictive, paranoid, and angry President and his surrogates, supporters, and enablers after me.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Impressive.
Keith P.
@NotMax: I figured they’d have used “Dirk Courage”
Captain C
@Keith P.: What the hell were they spending it on?!?