Ambassador Bolton, the Frank Burns of American national security, has allowed his unpublished manuscript to be selectively leaked to Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt at The New York Times. Bolton’s book deal reportedly came with a $2 million advance! Haberman and Schmidt have excerpted the material that is pertinent to the President’s impeachment and which Bolton would not share with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence or the House Judiciary Committee because there isn’t any profit in doing so.
President Trump told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens, according to an unpublished manuscript by the former adviser, John R. Bolton.
The president’s statement as described by Mr. Bolton could undercut a key element of his impeachment defense: that the holdup in aid was separate from Mr. Trump’s requests that Ukraine announce investigations into his perceived enemies, including former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter Biden, who had worked for a Ukrainian energy firm while his father was in office.
Mr. Bolton’s explosive account of the matter at the center of Mr. Trump’s impeachment trial, the third in American history, was included in drafts of a manuscript he has circulated in recent weeks to close associates. He also sent a draft to the White House for a standard review process for some current and former administration officials who write books.
Multiple people described Mr. Bolton’s account of the Ukraine affair.
The book presents an outline of what Mr. Bolton might testify to if he is called as a witness in the Senate impeachment trial, the people said. The White House could use the pre-publication review process, which has no set time frame, to delay or even kill the book’s publication or omit key passages.
Over dozens of pages, Mr. Bolton described how the Ukraine affair unfolded over several months until he departed the White House in September. He described not only the president’s private disparagement of Ukraine but also new details about senior cabinet officials who have publicly tried to sidestep involvement.
For example, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged privately that there was no basis to claims by the president’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani that the ambassador to Ukraine was corrupt and believed Mr. Giuliani may have been acting on behalf of other clients, Mr. Bolton wrote.
Mr. Bolton also said that after the president’s July phone call with the president of Ukraine, he raised with Attorney General William P. Barr his concerns about Mr. Giuliani, who was pursuing a shadow Ukraine policy encouraged by the president, and told Mr. Barr that the president had mentioned him on the call. A spokeswoman for Mr. Barr denied that he learned of the call from Mr. Bolton; the Justice Department has said he learned about it only in mid-August.
And the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, was present for at least one phone call where the president and Mr. Giuliani discussed the ambassador, Mr. Bolton wrote. Mr. Mulvaney has told associates he would always step away when the president spoke with his lawyer to protect their attorney-client privilege.
During a previously reported May 23 meeting where top advisers and Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, briefed him about their trip to Kyiv for the inauguration of President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr. Trump railed about Ukraine trying to damage him and mentioned a conspiracy theory about a hacked Democratic server, according to Mr. Bolton.
Charles J. Cooper, a lawyer for Mr. Bolton, declined to comment. The White House did not provide responses to questions about Mr. Bolton’s assertions, and representatives for Mr. Johnson, Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Mulvaney did not respond to emails and calls seeking comment on Sunday afternoon.
Mr. Bolton’s submission of the book to the White House may have given the White House lawyers direct insight into what Mr. Bolton would say if he were called to testify at Mr. Trump’s impeachment trial. It also intensified concerns among some of his advisers that they needed to block Mr. Bolton from testifying, according to two people familiar with their concerns.
Bolton’s real concern, according to Haberman’s and Schmidt’s reporting is that if he doesn’t get to testify in the President’s impeachment trial in the Senate, that people will think he’s only interested in his personal profit.
Mr. Bolton would like to testify for several reasons, according to associates. He believes he has relevant information, and he has also expressed concern that if his account of the Ukraine affair emerges only after the trial, he will be accused of holding back to increase his book sales.
Ya think?!?!?!?!
Ambassador Bolton has long been known as a professionally toxic leader. But for some bizarre reason a portion of America’s very serious people have perceived him as being a legitimate, if somewhat extreme, national security professional who cares deeply about the national security of the United States. Those people need to have their heads examined! Bolton couldn’t care less about the national security of the United States. What Bolton cares about is using the national power of the United States, specifically its intelligence and military power, to prosecute his petty grievances with the rest of the world. And making money. Lots and lots and lots of money. Ambassador Bolton doesn’t have to worry about whether people will think he’s only in it for the money. That ship has sailed, got caught in a storm after leaving port, and has sunk. I’d call Ambassador Bolton a selfish, egomaniacal, megalomaniacal whore, but that would be insulting to selfish people, egomaniacs, megalomaniacs, and whores!
Also, and as something that needs to be called out: WTF is wrong with Haberman, Schmidt, their editor, and The New York Times that allowed this view from nowhere paragraph to make it into the article (emphasis mine):
He, Mr. Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper had collectively pressed the president about releasing the aid nearly a dozen times in the preceding weeks after lower-level officials who worked on Ukraine issues began complaining about the holdup, Mr. Bolton wrote. Mr. Trump had effectively rebuffed them, airing his longstanding grievances about Ukraine, which mixed legitimate efforts by some Ukrainians to back his Democratic 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, with unsupported accusations and outright conspiracy theories about the country, a key American ally.
If you cannot and will not bring yourselves as reporters at the paper of record in the US to unequivocally report this for what it is, a Russian created lie intended to get the President to lift sanctions on Russia, direct the power of the US against Ukraine, and achieve one of Putin’s strategic objectives, then you need to get out of the way and let reporters with professionalism and courage do the reporting. Haberman and Schmidt have failed here as journalism professionals as clearly as Ambassador Bolton has as a national security professional.
Open thread!
Previewing John Bolton’s Book
JPL
Well no shit..
They all lie too.
Hunter Gathers
Failure became a virtue on Election Day 2016.
Reviewing the org chart at work only reinforces that.
fungible
You’re right. Bolton is a piece of shit coward, he’s in it for the money, and yet it burns Trump’s entire alibi to the ground. Any Republican who votes against witnesses now (all of them, probably) is signing their own death warrant.
These people all deserve each other.
NotMax
Had Dolt 45 begun a hot war with Iran Bolton would never say boo about Ukraine.
Baud
@fungible:
Let’s cool it with the GOP-like death talk, nym I don’t recognize.
JPL
@fungible: Why..
cain
Can someone explain what the DNC is doing here? Can someone verify they are running ads on senators that could be affected by this? I mean, really? This seems like we should be pressing these pols to do the right thing?
Is anybody doing anything to pressure the Republican senators to vote for witnesses? I mean.. come on
ETA – why do I feel the DNC’s entire shtick is to convert Trump voters to vote for a Democrat? I hope not.
Martin
@cain:
That’s the only pressure they seem to respond to, unfortunately.
Adam L Silverman
@cain: They are doing nothing. As usual.
JMG
The DNC only learned about this the same time we did. To expect them to have cut and broadcast an ad in under three hours seems a little much. Also, the DNC’s main role is to raise funds for the party’s eventual Presidential nominee for the general election. It isn’t a party Congress or a party vehicle for instant communication or anything like that. I imagine Sens. Warren, Klobuchar and Sanders will have plenty to say before the trial starts up tomorrow afternoon. They will carry the ball. I bet Mike Bloomberg might buy an ad or two as well.
schrodingers_cat
Pravda on the Hudson is in the tank for the Russians and their Republican satraps. How much of the NYT do the oligarchs own/fund.
WaterGirl
@Baud: ?
TS (the original)
The NYT will forever attack Hillary Clinton whenever the chance arises. I hope she lives to see the NYT sink into bankruptcy with the rest of the world’s print media.
hilts
And the impact this information will have on Republican senators regarding the vote to allow testimony from Bolton or any other witnesses – absolutely nothing, zero, nada.
I fully expect Moscow Mitch to have this impeachment trial over and done with by Friday. He and his fellow Republican senators are unrepentant and irredeemable scum.
Jeffro
Was John Bolton EVER a national security professional? I think he fails on two of those qualifiers (#2 and #3) and possibly #1 as well.
Should be a great Infrastructure Week as always!
Don’t say we didn’t warn you, GOP.
WaterGirl
The long thread names sometimes make me a little crazy because we end up with a fly-out wing that is 12 lines long, but in this case, I whole heartedly endorse your title:
Hear, hear!
karensky
@Adam L Silverman: true dat
Mary G
Adam, your rants are approaching John Cole level excellence. Will you write about the ginormous protests in Baghdad and the rockets shot at the US embassy there? Seems pretty serious and I doubt the abysmal Pompeo is paying any attention.
dmsilev
@WaterGirl: Can we add this to the list of tags? It does seem to recur.
glory b
@JMG: Thanks! I’m always irked by people who (1) don’t know the roles of these organizations and (2) seem to believe that they control vast sums of money.
Especially now that our progressive betters turn up their noses on corporate donations but won’t donate to these organizations themselves.
If you only donate to candidates, there’s no money to do this. AOC has decided not to pay her contribution to the party, if others do the same, well, what then?
Jeffro
@cain:
@Adam L Silverman:
Would love to see some “cowards, the lot of them” ads up before lunch tomorrow. Wouldn’t be hard. Won’t hold my breath.
JPL
OT Congrats goes to Michele Obama, my forever flotus for her Grammy.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@glory b: I should like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Mike in NC
How did this bellicose cretin become a so-called national security expert? Wasn’t he some obscure crank that Newt Gingrich gave a platform and then got hired by Dubya?
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: The good news is all the missiles hit is a dining facility. I’m waiting to see if there’s any more damages, casualties, KIA, etc.
debbie
Well, I guess I’ll be faxing Rob Portman again.
Patricia Kayden
chris
@glory b:
She’s withholding contribution to the DCCC not the DNC.
Sloane Ranger
Do you think Pelosi, Schiff etc will draft specimen questions for Schumer to pass round to Democratic Senators for the Q&A section?
That seems like a great time to exploit this information, publicly undercut the White House’s defence, get it to voters AND pressurise Republicans in purple States to agree to at least subpoena the manuscript or confirm the idea they are in the tank for Trump.
Martin
@WaterGirl: The long fly out wings are a clue to me that the next post is a good one.
Jay
Mai naem mobile
If Obama had done this there would be no question about Republicans having Bolton in as a witness. I know I know the “if Obama had done x the GOP would…” game is depressing.
Oh, BTW, just as the corona virus is catching on the Office for readiness for a Pandemic was closed down by Orange Lump in 2018. Apparently they thought it was a waste of.money. I don’t quite remember if FOX and the GOP made a big deal out of the Ebola virus back in 2014? Wonder what the GOP would have done if Obama had closed the office down in the face of Ebola?
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
If we manage to take the house, (maybe senate) and executive I have a dream. I want multiple and massive public, under oath, interviews for the DC, Fox news, and New York media, reporters, editors and executives. They would be televised, explaining how they so profoundly fucked up the past TWENTY YEARS of political coverage.
Now, because we have been paying attention on this shitty blog, we know in great detail, how this failure has occurred. Still, I think these, PUBLIC, investigations would be good.
Why was there the insane focus on Hillary Clinton’s e-mails?
Why was ALL of mainstream media wrong on the second Iraq war, and why do most of them still have jobs?
Why does Peggy Noonan have job, while being an out of control alcoholic, with multiple proven acts of plagiarism published on the New York times?
Why does anyone give a microphone to David brooks?
And so many. Many….. more.
The point of the free press, and why it has it’s special place in our constitution, is the ability to speak truth, and especially truth to power.
These bad actors have to either forced come clean in a public forum and say they have lied to the public, in public. No savvy “I needed sources, off record, to do my job” excuses. The first amendment say no laws may be passed to restrict the free press. No laws would need to be passed, but to publicly, repeatedly, force them to squirm and explain their malfeasance and incompetence in front of congress would be helpful.
Plus, if individuals lie, under oath, well that something else entirely. The investigatory committees need to do their homework beforehand. With what Adam Schiff has done with impeachment I’d short list him for the head of the house investigation. Hit them in their (unearned) reputation, which might hit them in their pocketbooks.
Martin
@Adam L Silverman: Everyone is perfectly healthy, apart from some brain trauma which everyone knows doesn’t count.
I suppose we should be thankful Trump is too much of a coward to slap a soldier.
glory b
@chris: Yep, I stand corrected on that, but the principal is the same.
You know who funds these kind of things? The party’s rich elites. I guess we’ll have get a bunch of $27 donations to fund an ad roll out. It’ll take longer than a day, but we’ll remain unsullied.
glory b
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thoughts, I got them!
hilts
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]:
I’d like to see some type of truth and reconciliation commission created to hold the NY Times, CNN, etc accountable for the miserable, terrible, horrible work product they’ve given us for the past 10 years.
Martin
@hilts: Maybe we could get one for slavery and jim crow and native american geneocide first? I mean, I’m all for shitting on the NYT, but they aren’t remotely our most pressing unresolved problem.
Jay
BigJimSlade
Adam, to the pleasure of no one, I’ve been pointing this out for, I dunno, 15 years or so (but only a handful of times): “could care less” – you got that wrong, the phrase is “couldn’t care less.”
Why have people gotten this wrong for so long? My only guess is that they don’t care that much about the accuracy of what they are saying (in this case, at least), and the double cussive of cuh-care is satisfying. And it’s a tiny bit shrtr than the original, correct phrase.
I recall first pointing this out to people saying it who were maybe 5-10 years younger than me, and they were confused – what? They had never thought about it before. They weren’t using it in an ironic or some other tricky way, they were using it in a way that was dismissive, and, therefore, not quite right.
Also, f*ck John Bolton.
hilts
@Mary G:
@Adam L Silverman:
@Martin:
Good for the VFW for speaking out on this:
h/t https://www.vfw.org/media-and-events/latest-releases/archives/2020/1/vfw-expects-apology-from-potus
Jay
West of the Rockies
So does this news actually change a damn thing? Won’t it all just be, “Well, so he did it–who cares? Benghazi!” Will this actually change the minds of any Republican senators or Trump voters?
Mo MacArbie
I was under the impression that making it rain on the DCCC was one way reps built goodwill and influence among their peers. Oh well.
As for that other organization and fixations thereupon, I’m tempted to name a Borgia-type dynasty in my fantasy world the D’Ensi.
TS (the original)
@Sloane Ranger:
Rather a shame that the senators aren’t capable of drafting their own questions.
trnc
Then he can’t claim executive privilege, so Mulvaney should be required to testify.
Adam L Silverman
@BigJimSlade: I will endeavor to both fix it up top and care more. How’s that?
topclimber
Adam, you don’t seem to realize that if by some miracle Bolton’s testimony or book helps lead to the demise of Trump World, he will be a pariah. Goodbye wingnut welfare. Since he leaked his book when it could most help the highly unlikely odds of the Senate calling witnesses, I have no problem with his cashing in on it.
Bolton is on the extreme end of the neocon scale, but foolish me, I think he has integrity. Remember he is the one who picked Fiona Hill as his deputy.
Jay
TS (the original)
@hilts:
Why do they even write this when they know full well there will be no apology given. It is way past time for the military to stop respecting this pretense of a president.
Kent
Honestly, the only thing that really matters anymore is November 2020 for both the President and Senate. The endless drip drip of bad deeds and illegal acts by Trump and everyone around him is just overwhelming.
That said, I think the GOP are making a strategic error by rushing the coverup vote so that they can hold it before Trump’s State of the Union speech which is what this is all about. If the vote is already in the bag as we all assume it is, then they would probably have been better off boring the NYT and everyone with witnesses and document subpoenas. Then they could truly announce “nothing to see here folks, everyone move along” and just toss cold water on anything else that comes up this summer and fall.
However, by willfully ignoring all the threads of evidence and voting to coverup rather than subpoena, they have basically opened the door wide open for the House to continue investigating and pulling on every damn thread from Bolton to Pompeo to Mulvaney from now until Election Day and beyond. Drip, drip drip. Make it the investigation that Trump and the rest of them simply cannot escape from underneath. And all because they chose not to do a proper Senate trial. The GOP knows exactly how to do that. They held, what, 10 separate investigations on Benghazi? That is what actually won them the election because that is where they dredged up the whole emails thing to begin with. The House should just continue methodically pulling on every thread here, drip, drip, drip. Relentlessly. Don’t call it an impeachment investigation. Call it the Ukraine Coverup investigation. Or whatever.
And yes, subpoena Bolton’s ass. Make him spend a couple thousand dollars of his advance on attorneys. Make him go over every damn word in his book under oath. Maybe right about the time of the GOP Convention
And run about 100 thousand ads in Maine talking about Collins’ roll in the GOP coverup. How she betrayed her country and the truth by voting to coverup Trump’s treason instead of at least voting to investigate. And in North Carolina, Arizona, and Colorado, and everywhere there is a Senator who voted for the coverup.
This isn’t really even about Bolton anymore. They could call him tomorrow if they wanted. It is about the Senate GOP.
Omnes Omnibus
For the record. Why did the House impeach Trump when we all know that he won’t be removed by the Senate? For the record. We didn’t and don’t agree to this being done in our names. And that should be on the record.
rikyrah
I think that this is one of your best post headlines ever
hilts
@Martin:
Obviously, I’d support TRCs concerning those issues first if some groups were able to rally support for them. I also believe that Facebook has done as much if not more harm than the NY Times. Fuck Bolton, his mustache, plus Trump and all his lapdogs and apologists.
Mike in DC
I’m not sure where the “win” is for the Senate GOP if they vote against witnesses and vote to acquit now. I mean, we’re way past any plausible “exoneration” narrative, and if it’s a “cover up”, what exactly are they successfully covering up? Is there something WORSE than what’s already known here? They might as well vote for witnesses and evidence, overrule any executive privilege claims and rip the scab off. Get it all out there and try to say with a straight face that it’s not impeachable.
Hell, if they really hate the guy, this is a golden opportunity to get rid of him. Fox will work overtime to smooth things over and get them behind President Pence and his new Gilead Initiative.
Badgetoon
@Adam L Silverman:
CaDems (they get bucks from the DNC) just opened an office in downtown Oakland with phonebanking today with a goal for at least one in each county. This is a new and exciting approach for the Dems to take, their not waiting until September for once.
Kay
@Kent:
Good point. I think that’s true- they could have skipped the whole stonewalling debate on calling witnesses, too.
Call a lot. An endless parade. Just bury us in words and paper.
I think they probably didn’t because Trump didn’t just demand they cover it up- he demanded an affirmative fight. It’s all he has or knows – attack, attack, attack.
Martin
I figured I’d have an interesting social experiment to observe, but it’s not quite the one I expected. Activity at work suggested the coronavirus case here was related to my work, but apparently not – looks like they simply activated when a case was confirmed locally.
However, the case is from my neighborhood and is currently at the hospital about a mile from my house. I know this because it’s all over our Mandarin equivalent to NextDoor and is about to bust out into the open on NextDoor itself. The individual apparently slipped out of the Wuhan quarantine area and flew home. So much for the efficacy of the Chinese surveillance state doing something beneficial. I had hoped that US CDC was monitoring inbound flight manifests and testing everyone (especially when we have a CDC lab about 5 miles away) but no, she wasn’t feeling well and went to the ER.
Takeaways:
The upshot is that I don’t expect a Monsters are Due on Maple Street situation here. We don’t get much regular crime/events, but we get a lot of weird shit. We’ve had bioterrorism incidents in the neighborhood, a pretty hard lockdown when Chris Dorner was shooting the place up, we had a neighbor commit a regular act of terror, and our response was block parties and defending our innocent neighbors from the nutters in Indiana or wherever that were panicking and screaming Death to California.
I know a few people at the hospital in question. Gonna ask some questions tomorrow about how they respond to this, what interface with state/feds they’re having, etc. Not sure if they’ll know anything. 10 years ago or so my aunt contracted West Nile, was one of a handful of cases in the county, and the next day there was a CDC person interviewing me (I’m the only family near her) regarding her movements, where she might have contracted it, etc. I must have spent 10 hours talking to them over a period of a week. Was pretty impressed considering it didn’t transmit between humans. Curious to see how things compare now.
Percysowner
In other words, he’s a Republican.
hilts
@TS (the original):
Trump never has and never will apologize for anything, but I still appreciate the VFW for going on the record to criticize his remarks. Given the rock solid support Trump continues to receive from Republicans in Congress, I’ll welcome any statement critical of him.
geg6
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes, this exactly. I am not complicit and neither is anyone who speaks out on the record.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@hilts:
I largely agree with you. Unfortunately, at this point (glad to be wrong) I don’t really see any reconciliation from the media people at this point. Second I’m still bitter from “Al Gore says he invented the internet” which was 1) Made up 2)Implied that he was a liar and 3)Was one of the reasons that allowed the fail-son that was Bush the lesser to cheat his way to victory in 2000.
And we all know how that worked out for America.
SFAW
@TS (the original):
I expect there are a few who would do just fine. Harris, Warren, Klobuchar. Were Franken still there, I expect he would.
SFAW
@Percysowner:
You are SO shrill.
Geoboy
@hilts: About fucking time the VFW began to figure out who has their best interests at heart and who doesn’t give a shit.
Jay
@Mo MacArbie:
DCCC requires “call time”, typically 4/6 hours a day of cold calling donors.
For that, an Elected Democrat get’s less than the support they give, and it is all in relationship to their political position to the DCCC.
Blue Dogs need the DCCC, Progressives don’t.
It’s part and parcel of the “horse trading” involved in intra party politics when there are multiple “Democratic” organizations, with competing agendas, fundraising methods and politics.
The DCCC has decided to blacklist any progressive groups, consultancies or campaigns that primary sitting Democrats. So why would a “progressive” Democrat spend 4-6 hours of every day, campaigning for that Org, when they can raise far more much money from small donors, for their and other campaigns, in a fraction of the time?
But it is a very nice troll to bring the Progressive/Blue Dog split up in a ReThug Venality thread.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Badgetoon: I can’t find a figure in any of the press reports– all of which seem to be from Wisconsin sources, maybe not surprisingly–but as I recall this is a $6M program involving paying young people to do the organizing work, instead of counting on volunteers. It was something Perez, Buttigieg and Harrison all said they wanted to do
Yutsano
Now tell us how you really feel there Adam.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jay:
and “Progressives” need “Blue Dogs” to have the majority. Helluva thing.
and so you did
randy khan
@Kent:
McConnell may be focused on November, but what he’s really thinking about is making sure he doesn’t lose the base. The Republicans have no chance at all if the base stays home. And unless the base decides to abandon Trump, which hasn’t happened yet, McConnell won’t abandon Trump.
sdhays
Adam, I appreciate everything you write here, but I wish you would stop beating around the bush and tell us what you really think.
@BigJimSlade: There was a long thread here a few years ago on this topic (could care less). It’s a Balloon Juice tradition that only one thread is necessary to resolve important issues like this, so we don’t need to discuss it ever again. :-)
randy khan
@trnc:
Mulvaney left the room so he wouldn’t be implicated in the conspiracy. The attorney-client privilege thing was a cover.
Renie
trump’s reaction tomorrow re: bolton: “I might have met him… but I meet a lot of people.”
Kent
@randy khan: Trump and McConnell are driving this for sure. But they may be too smart for their own good. Trump wants the state of the union to be a victory lap. McConnell wants to get back to his judge approval assembly line. This is all a giant distraction for them. But going too far with the coverup, which is what they are doing, just leaves the door open for the House to spend the rest of the year pulling on all the remaining threads. Plus all the other scandals from Trump’s taxes to emoluments.
Trump desperately wanted an investigation to taint Biden. Because he knows how just the presence of an investigation gives bad press. So give him some of his own medicine. Spend the next 9 months continuing to investigate all the remaining aspects of this scandal.
Part of Trump’s defense is that the House didn’t PROVE their case. OK, fine, they can go back to work and PROVE it with all the new evidence and testimony that Trump has been covering up. There is no such thing as double jeopardy when it comes to impeachment investigations. And calls for “bygones to be bygones” will ring hollow if they never allowed any of this stuff out in the first place.
Jay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I didn’t raise the subject, two others did.
In a “big tent” Party, there is a symbiosis between the various “wings” of the Party, which sadly is often forgotten in intraParty infighting.
Jay
Relating to the ReThug tactics in the Impeachment hearings and Bolton,….
https://www.wonkette.com/wonkette-book-club-the-wishful-thinking-war
sdhays
@Kent: They can’t just bore everyone with witnesses. The witnesses and documents will strengthen an already air-tight case. They aren’t patriots, at best they’re hostages, and they won’t vote to convict even if Dump shoots Susan Collins in the Oval Office on national television. So bringing it to a close as fast as possible is the best of a range of bad options, from their perspective. Of course, as you say, more stuff is going to keep coming out, making their vote to acquit look worse and worse as time goes on, so now they’re stuck with a range of bad options.
Matt McIrvin
@Mike in DC: They’re saying “We have the power and we have balls: we can and will get an obviously guilty, horrible man off, and make millions of our supporters parrot the statement that he has been completely exonerated. We control reality.” To conservatives that is strength.
TS (the original)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Military groups are different – they support trump – they really think he would apologise. Very different to what others are doing to place the misbehavior on record. They should be calling for him to step down as the commander in chief given what he says about the troops – repeatedly.
jl
” until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens ”
They wanted smears on other Democrats, huh? Ha! And I predicted they were working on a “Belarus Bernie” scandal yesterday!
I have one quibble with Adam’s post re: “What Bolton cares about is using the national power of the United States, specifically its intelligence and military power, to prosecute his petty grievances with the rest of the world.”
I think Bolton is the guy who said he wanted to blow up the top half of the UN building in NY. That isn’t petty, and I think that the general idea is consistent with GOP foreign policy. Bolton is the distilled essence of GOP foreign policy.
Anyway, I think this is a great prepublication publicity stunt to get the book tour off to a great start. Just good business. I don’t know what teed off Cheryl and Adam so much.
jl
@TS (the original): “Military groups are different – they support trump”
Trump is 50-50 with enlisted troops, and has been slipping fast. Only a third of the officer corps have a favorable opinion.
Half of active-duty service members are unhappy with Trump, new Military Times poll shows
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/12/17/half-of-active-duty-service-members-are-unhappy-with-trump-new-military-times-poll-shows/
Jay
Another Scott
@topclimber: That is an argument. But it would be much stronger one, IMHO, if he had testified in front of the House as he was asked.
Cheers,
Scott.
StringOnAStick
This news isn’t exactly a shock to those of us here because we’ve been following it closely but I suspect it is burning up smart phones all over DC right now. I’m hoping that the absolute lust the media has for hot news bombshells might work in our favor here. I guess I’ll have an idea based on my 6am drive to work tomorrow.
My huge thanks again to Adam and Cheryl for their posts here.
The Dangerman
So, doesn’t really belong in THIS thread, but thought I’d share a bit.
Because Metrolink (Los Angeles Rail) has $10 weekend days, I went on an adventure today and hopped the train in Newhall (basically, north side of the Metro area; at one time, Newhall was the sticks, but those days are long over); Newhall at that time (train was a little late; 7:45a, IIRC) was crisp, yet clear…
…but, on exiting the tunnel into the San Fernando Valley, it was instantly WOAH, the weather suddenly sucks (foggy).
After transfer at Union Station, I was on the Metrolink headed towards San Bernardino (where I grew up) when the helicopter went down. I learned of the event while in SB.
I hopped the train again after lunch headed back towards LA and Union Station was awash in Laker and Kobe gear. I briefly (and I do mean BRIEFLY) considered going to Staples as Staples is a short subway ride from Union Station, but, I figured with the Grammy’s, I wanted no part of that scene. It HAD to be madness…
,,,besides, I wasn’t a huge Kobe fan. He was … complicated. A hell of a baller, no doubt, but … complicated.
Still, bummed, as 41 is WAY to young for anyone to go, let alone like that, but what really gets me is that ball got cheated of seeing what his daughter could do (apparently, she was pretty damn good) on the court, let alone what she would do with her life.
A crying shame.
Mandalay
@Jay:
It’s even worse than that. If you want to run against a Republican and do not meet the approval of the DCCC, they will knife you. Ask Laura Moser in Houston about that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
it’s not uncommon to see journalists wait outside public figures’ houses to get their comments on current events. I wonder if camera crews will be camping out in front of the Turtle’s lair at first light to ask for an explanation
Juju
@Renie: Also, “besides, he only got me coffee from time to time”.
Kent
The Senate GOP controls this trial. They have an extreme amount of power to make things as boring or exciting as possible. And they have a shitload of reporter stenographer lackeys who will happily channel whatever meme and talking points they want. If the Senate wanted to call Bolton for some tightly controlled and vetted interviews that were endlessly interrupted by procedural questions about executive privilege and Dems were given limited time to crack at him at 11:30 pm to 12 midnight on a Sunday during which time he stonewalled and ran out the clock. Then they could claim that Bolton had testified and there was nothing new so…case closed.
On the other hand, if the House takes up Bolton they can put him on the stand for 2-weeks straight.
Control of procedure and process is incredibly powerful. The Senate under McConnell probably could have called various witnesses and documents, rolled through them quickly late at night, and then just voted to move on to closing arguments or whatever saying “case closed” we did what the Dems wanted and there was nothing new…just all boring stuff so stop wasting everyone’s time.
I really do believe this could all backfire on them long-term if the Dems play it right. At this point we are way past making the case against Trump. That case has been made many times over since Mueller. All this is really about is making the best case against vulnerable Senators and Trump in November.
Brachiator
This doesn’t affect by view that Trump is guilty of the charges brought by impeachment and should be convicted and removed, but I am curious where this bullshit decision to “investigate” Hunter Biden came from. Did Trump and his political strategists dream this up, did Putin whisper something in Trump’s ear, or did the Great Orange Ass-wipe come up with the idea himself?
This is worse than Nixon and his enemies list or his desire to set the IRS loose on his enemies. But in either case, a president is acting as if government agencies are his personal toys. If he is not removed from office, Trump will feel even more unrestrained. This is starting to look like a version of the Godfather where Michael both becomes a mob boss and then becomes president of the United States.
jl
Hideous people like John Bolton bring Tom Cotton to mind, for some reason. Except Cotton is dumber than Bolton by at least an order of magnitude. When confronted by the tape of Trump telling his muscle to ‘take out’ Ambassador Yavanovitch, and Brennan saying it was sketchy for Trump to give an order like that on the word of two crooks, the best Cotton can do is say that Trump wasn’t hasty at all, and didn’t fire her for over a year. But… that was seconds after everyone heard Trump say on tape ‘take her out’ immediately after hearing his two crony crooks dish some BS.
Brennan didn’t push back on that. But it was better than most Face the Nation GOP interviews, in which usually the GOPer of the day is allowed to spout random BS uninterrupted, except for some admiring ‘really’s from the host. Brennan did politely question some of Cotton’s BS and lies.
January 26, 2020: Senator Tom Cotton Joins Face the Nation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjWm2GnuDn8
Wag
Well, I at least appreciate that Bolton has impeccable timing. He just took an enormous and stinky dump all over Trump’s impeachment defense. Dershowitz and Starr must be drinking heavily tonight in anticipation of tomorrow.
Zelma
I do not claim to have a crystal ball, but I wonder if any of the Republican senators from purple states can win a fair election. Perchance they are screwed every which way. If they vote for witness, they will be viewed as traitors and the Trumpers will not vote for them. If they continue the cover-up, they will likely lose many independents especially if the drip, drip, drip of info continues. If they vote for witnesses and then vote to acquit, they will still lose the independents given the strength of the case. And if they vote for witnesses and then vote to convict, they will also lose the election because ain’t no Democrat going to vote for them and they will lose the Trumpers. I feel so sorry for them.
Mandalay
@topclimber:
The exact opposite would be true.
If “Trump World” collapses he would have nothing to fear, since Trump only rules by fear, and has a cult following.
So who exactly would treat Bolton as a pariah if Trump were gone? The RNC? Hardly! Republicans in the House? Of course not! All those think tanks in DC? Nope! Billionaire supporters? They’d be badmouthing Trump before he made it to the helicopter on the White House lawn!
The never-Trump crybabies like Rubin and Kristol and Schmidt will hail Bolton as a man of immense integrity, and everyone will be claiming that they were against Trump all along!
Another Scott
@Mandalay: Meh.
Houston Chronicle:
It was a reasonable position for the DCCC to take.
The Bernie Wing continuing to beat this drum to death is not a good look, IMHO.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kent
@Mandalay: This. If Trump fails he will be as forgotten as Bush in 2 weeks and the GOP machine will roll right along. All the professional Trump cronies will be quickly rehabbed through think tanks and Fox. That is the way of the GOP world.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jay: Then I guess you’re all for “Right to Work” laws. The DCCC is the union for Congressmen who are members of the Democratic Party. Like any other union, they try to retain their membership in their jobs and will not hire firms that work against their membership. If a “progressive” wants to buck the rules, they’re the same as the guy who takes the deal the union negotiated but doesn’t want to pay dues. Basically a free rider.
Jay
@Mandalay:
Political “in groups” always leverage for the status quo. Smokey rooms, knife fights.
It’s the virginal protestations of “but I never!” , and the retreat to the fainting couch that bothers me.
fun fact, voted against Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
Funny that, no PDA’s, no SDA’s, no Rose Twitteratti,
lot’s of “Blue Dogs” and “Centerists” though.
right now though, I really don’t care. It’s the “sniping” that bugs me. There was a “gentleman’s agreement” that “we” ( jackals” would not snipe on Democratic Party Cantidates, ( non-members of the Democratic Party, Russian assets and Billionaires excluded), and that’s not happening.
Jay
@Brachiator
As many, many NatSec reporters and analysts have reported, it’s GRU Disinfo that started in 2014.
Yes, Putin runs the Office of the Presidency of the United States of America, lock, stock and barrel.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/news/2020/01/22/ukraine-russia-disinformation-election-trump-101895
Mandalay
@Another Scott:
The “Bernie Wing”? Your slip is showing.
Some Democrats really don’t like the DCCC in D.C. having undue influence in local elections, just because they can. That’s why AOC isn’t paying up, and good for her.
jl
@Zelma: I’m sure Senator Collins is very very concerned.
Another Scott
@Sloane Ranger:
+1
Cheers,
Scott.
hilts
@Wag:
Get your popcorn ready for the Dershmeister, the biggest blowhard in the universe of tv lawyers,
Another Scott
@Mandalay: Heh.
From the quote I provided:
HTH!
Cheers,
Scott.
jl
@Mandalay: Might be true. For Bolton’s future personal prospects for money, fame and influence, he probably thinks of it as a ‘if you go fro the king, you better not miss’.
@Kent: If the Boltons of the GOP have their way, the GOP would regroup and roll right on. So you are mostly correct, I think. But it would be the more competent neocon wing, not the incompetent Trump nitwit flunkies. In some ways, going back to Cheneyism would be more dangerous (aka, they are competent enough to get a disastrous, dangerous, ridiculous and criminal aggressive war going), but in other ways less
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mandalay: The “Bernie Wing”? Your slip is showing.
Okay, if you want to be pedantic.
The Bernie Cult.
Happy now?
hilts
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]:
I second your bitterness on this issue. That was completely indefensible reporting by the media,sheer nonsense made up out of whole cloth and sadly too many voters fell for it.
Mai naem mobile
@Martin: Orange Lump closed down the US Pandemic Preparedness Office in May 201i. Apparently he thought it was a waste of money.
Redshift
Weird how he has all these reasons he’d like to testify, but he also says he’ll only do it if they subpoena him, and only the Senate. Almost as if he’s only holding back to increase his book sales…
Jay
@Another Scott:
funny, there’s that “electable” meme trotted out again before there is a single vote cast.
I was a “Dipper” Riding Chair for 2 Decades. The National Party kept telling me that “women” and “visible minorities” were unelectable and as Chair, “I should put my fingers on the scale”.
Nelson Ris*, our MP for 2 decades, ( before my time), always told me, ( and he didn’t know E.F.Goldman),
”Fuck em”.
(*Sikh, 3rd Generation, Labour Lawyer).
After Mulclair died, I got outsted. The Dippers went from winning/close losing, to losing to even the Greens, by choosing unelectable, “electable” cantidates.
Didn’t even vote Dipper in the last thre elections because voting for the Lib, was a better “strategic vote” in defeating the Con.
Jay
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
DCCC membership is volentary. One can be a member of the Democratic Party, be elected as a Rep or Senator, and never give a dime or join the DCCC.
Nice try though.
jl
@Redshift: Book sales, and speaking fees, foundation and corporate board compensation for doing very little work, and a shot another high position in executive branch in what he hopes is the 2021, non-Trump, GOP administration.
I figure he said he’d fight a House subpoena, but appear willingly in the Senate, since the former is run by dirty Dems, and for the latter, he’d get GOP serious daddy permission from Mitch. Bolton isn’t taking any chances on getting liberal kooties from his coup plotting.
dww44
@TS (the original): I get a daily newsletter from Chris Murphy during the Impeachment;almost like a diary. He wrote the other night that he was going home to write up his questions. So, I gather that the Senators are participating.
Jay
@Another Scott
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Moser
It’s funny, Bernie isn’t a Democratic Party Member, but apparently, he has an entire “wing” of the party.
dww44
@jl: Tom Cotton is not dumb. To the contrary. He’s an educated and intelligent EXTREME right wing idealogue. Dangerous, too.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jay:
What an interesting story. What happened in November?
Jay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Bernie’s not a Democratic Party Member, yet he has an entire Official Wing or Cult?
Funny that.
Is he a member of that manditory ” Union”?
Is the DCCC a registered Union under applicable US Laws?
jl
@dww44: I’ll take your word for it. If he is that smart, then maybe a good sign that he was reduced to saying desperately stupid things in front of the whole country today. And looks like we’ll see how the Tom Cottons of the GOP handle what is coming:
Parnas’ Attorney Says His Client Has More Trump Recordings Up His Sleeve
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/bondy-parnas-more-recordings-trump
Speaking of desperate, it may be that Parnas has done enough dirt to be put behind bars for a very long time. Parnas said that, in jail after his booking, the Trumpsters rather contemptuously informed him he would jump in front of however many buses that were needed jumping in front of. That might have been a mistake if Parnas documented everything, like Cohen did.
Jay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
She lost in the Democratic Party Primary.
Isn’t that how the “electability” argument is supposed to work?
Or are you one of those federalists who believes that the hand of God ( smokey back rooms) appoints your “cantidates”?
jl
@jl: OK, sorry, so far Parnas is sharing audio and video that Fruman sent him, not what he recorded himself. So, looks like a lot of recordings to release.
Jay
@jl:
Parnas said he was more afraid of Bill Barr than Putin.
Jay
@jl:
Parnas’s lawyer said that there are hours of recordings.
CaseyL
@Jay: Are you aka Tony Jay? Did you do a lot of commentary here on the recent UK elections?
Omnes Omnibus
@CaseyL: No, Jay is a putative Canadian lefty. Tony Jay is a Brexit-opposing Liverpool fan.
dww44
@jl: Just refreshed my knowledge base on Sen. Cotton on his Wikipedia page. Kind of impressive really, as a Harvard and Harvard law graduate then his military service in the Iraq/Afghanistan arena. But always destined for big things in the conservative world, so it’s good to hear that he didn’t do himself proud today on Face the Nation.
Perhaps, like so many of his fellow Republicans who’ve had to tie themselves in knots to justify their support of Trump, the sheer cognitive dissonance of it all pricked the ever present arrogance he’s wont to project. I do get so tired of their arrogance . A real whomping next November would be a just reward for them and and sweet justice for us and our democratic republic.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jay: You just proved my point. Also, Senators cannot be members of the DCCC. They have their own organization, the DSCC.
Jay
@Omnes Omnibus:
thanks for the “putative”,
pretty sure Tony isn’t a “Liverpuddian” but instead an “anybody but Manchester United” fan.
Jay
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
so, neither are a “Union” but instead a voluntary “Membership” otherwise known as a “Club”, like Mar a Lego.
Thanks, you have provided so much.
jl
@dww44: Watching the Trump crime spree playoffs is like watching a college basketball game with long boring periods of zone defense and stalling, broken by flurries of fast breaks and dunks, and three point swooshes. People have been admiring the masterful coaching of Pelosi and McConnell.
The difference is that opposing fans in the arena are allowed to aim, wind up and heave beer cans and bottles of hooch onto the court, pinpointing various heads.
McConnell may have bet he could get the trial done in ten days or two weeks, and over before a new flood of evidence got spilled all over the playing floor. Then the corporate media wouldn’t have been interested, since finals would be over and Trumpsters won. If so, he may have badly miscalculated. McConnell knrw about Bolton, but maybe thought Bolton wouldn’t try to defeat the Trumpsters in a big showdown, that he would prefer to gather competent neocon forces and slither his way back into power more slowly and quietly.
Did McConnell know that the Trumpsters backed one of their key flunky crooks, who knew all sorts of dirt, (Parnas) into a corner and forced him to fight for his life?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jay: A union is a group of people that work at a particular location and/or industry that band together for a particular goal. Under some state laws they may require membership to be employed at the location or in the industry. In “Right to Work” states, they are not compelled to join the union, though the union will still negotiate for them. I have a rather low opinion of folk who take the advantages of an organization without contributing to that organization. Obviously, you think that’s “sticking it to the man”, you keep being you.
P.S. Tony Jay has mentioned that he’s from Liverpool.
trnc
@jl:
No, he said we could lose the top 10 floors of the UN and it wouldn’t make a difference. Far be it from me to defend this chickenhawk who is wrong about almost everything, but his point was that he doesn’t value the work done by the UN. Wrongheaded, yes, but he was not actually saying the UN building should be blown up.
Chris Johnson
@Omnes Omnibus:
The fuck we don’t agree to Trump being impeached. I am totally down with that.
If you mean ‘the Senate running a fake trial with no witnesses and claiming he’s innocent when he’s totally not’, yeah I never agreed to that one. But the impeachment was vital and necessary, and I’m proud of us Dems for doing it.
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: Alas, it would be too long to fit in the space. :-(
WaterGirl
@Martin: I never thought of it that way. It certainly is often an indication of a certain level of emotion, mostly likely outrage, and that probably does up the odds significantly that it could be a good post.
Chris Johnson
The interesting part of all this to me is: granted, Bolton is greedy for money. Adam seems to be suggesting that’s the ONLY motivation, I don’t know why. But my understanding was, Bolton is a psycho Russia war hawk who has no sense of proportion and only lives to fight Russia. And that used to be bad (it’s why I hated to vote Clinton at the time, only to be rudely surprised by reality and end up agreeing with her on the subject, and she wasn’t the harshest Russia hawk around)
So.
If that is true, if the guy does actually care about fighting Russia and seeing it as an evil empire and destroyer of all that’s good, DEAR GOD must he be hating what has obviously happened. He must be about ready to kamikaze himself into the Senate if only he can tear Trump and McConnell apart with his bare, flabby hands.
Hate. Blinding hate. He must have figured out what Putin has done. He doesn’t have to be sensible, or wise, to be predictable in this situation: he has to be a long-time Russia hawk full of conspiracy theories. But they’re not just the NYT-style anti-Dem conspiracy theories (I’m sure he believes those too). He’s also going to be believing OUR conspiracy theories… many of which are turning out to be realities. Supposing he read the Mueller report, looking to blame everything on Russian meddling. HOO BOY! Did he ever get confirmation for his worst fears.
The enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend. But given what’s just dropped, Bolton is the deadly enemy of Trump and the Russian-controlled Senate. He will not be looking to cover this up. He’s timing it for maximum damage, playing it to destroy his political enemies, and his political enemies are Russia and their allies AND their pawns/collaborators.
I have a certain amount of respect for that. More will be revealed, but I like that a third side has emerged. The original, Red Dawn neocons. And they are rightfully PISSED and ready to yeet themselves into the fray wearing dynamite suits, because starting with Bolton, they have figured out that Russia has ‘peacefully’ conquered the United States of America.
Which it has.
For now.
Now, try and HOLD it, you fuckers.
BigJimSlade
@Adam L Silverman: Lovely!
BigJimSlade
@sdhays: lol, how’d I miss that thread?!!
No One You Know
@TS (the original): Much better to coordinate the assault than have questions fired blindly.
WaterGirl
@Mai naem mobile:
Your comment at #32 was in Spam. Released and approved just now.