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RandySF

(58,776 posts)
Fri Sep 6, 2019, 09:38 PM Sep 2019

Trump tries to force Ukraine to meddle in the 2020 election

UKRAINE’S NEOPHYTE president, Volodymyr Zelensky, took a big step this week toward proving that he will be, as he promised, the most pro-reform president in Ukraine’s history. On Monday, he laid out a breathtakingly ambitious five-year plan including virtually every measure the International Monetary Fund and Western governments have urged on Ukraine in recent years, from land reform to the privatization of state companies to a cleansing of the judiciary.

That ought to be cause for celebration in Washington, where successive Democratic and Republican administrations have tried to draw Ukraine away from Vladi­mir Putin’s Russia and into the ranks of Western democracies, only to be frustrated by the fecklessness and corruption of the country’s political leaders. Yet Mr. Zelensky has so far failed to win the backing of President Trump. Not only has Mr. Trump refused to grant the Ukrainian leader a White House visit, but also he has suspended the delivery of $250 million in U.S. military aid to a country still fighting Russian aggression in its eastern provinces.

Some suspect Mr. Trump is once again catering to Mr. Putin, who is dedicated to undermining Ukrainian democracy and independence. But we’re reliably told that the president has a second and more venal agenda: He is attempting to force Mr. Zelensky to intervene in the 2020 U.S. presidential election by launching an investigation of the leading Democratic candidate, Joe Biden. Mr. Trump is not just soliciting Ukraine’s help with his presidential campaign; he is using U.S. military aid the country desperately needs in an attempt to extort it.

The strong-arming of Mr. Zelensky was openly reported to the New York Times last month by Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who said he had met in Madrid with a close associate of the Ukrainian leader and urged that the new government restart an investigation of Mr. Biden and his son. Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, while Joe Biden, as vice president, urged the dismissal of Ukraine’s top prosecutor, who investigated the firm.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/is-trump-strong-arming-ukraines-new-president-for-political-gain/2019/09/05/4eb239b0-cffa-11e9-8c1c-7c8ee785b855_story.html

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Trump tries to force Ukraine to meddle in the 2020 election (Original Post) RandySF Sep 2019 OP
I am so sick and tired of this mob boss. madaboutharry Sep 2019 #1
Desperate bdamomma Sep 2019 #2
Just watched Rachel Maddow's report on this. The corruption is so skylucy Sep 2019 #3
I'm not going to get too upset. Haggis for Breakfast Sep 2019 #4
Okay, okay, I'm convinced. There is no bottom to Trump's corruption. Eugene Sep 2019 #5

Eugene

(61,872 posts)
5. Okay, okay, I'm convinced. There is no bottom to Trump's corruption.
Fri Sep 6, 2019, 09:49 PM
Sep 2019

The Air Force C-17 diversions to Turnbury show that Trump Administration is nothing but a crime family.

Which fascist kleptocracy are they using as their model? Even Putin isn't this brazen.

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