Jonathan Chait: The Ukraine Scandal Is Not One Phone Call. It's a Massive Plot.

[onetexan]

Last edited Thu Sep 26, 2019, 07:39 AM - Edit history (2)

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/ukraine-scandal-trump-phone-call-giuiliani-pence-barr-mulvaney-impeachment.html

On July 25, President Trump held a phone call in which he repeatedly leaned on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and Paul Manafort’s prosecutors. The episode is so blatantly inappropriate even Trump’s most fervent apologists are, with a few exceptions, having trouble defending it. What they are trying to do, instead, is define this phone call as the entire scandal. Trump emphasizes that he “didn’t specifically mention the explicit quid pro quo” of military aid in return for the investigation.

That is true, as far as it goes. The quid pro quo in the call, though perfectly apparent, is mostly implicit. But the real trick in Trump’s defense is framing the call as the entire scandal. The scandal is much more than that. The call is a snapshot, a moment in time in a months-long campaign that put American policy toward Ukraine at the disposal of Trump’s personal interests and reelection campaign...

The White House–issued summary of Trump’s phone call with Zelensky shows the American president pressing his counterpart to undertake the twin investigations. After Trump asks Zelensky to investigate Biden, and Zelensky makes accommodating noises in response, Trump promises to have Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr call him. Barr also was involved in preventing Congress from seeing the whistle-blower complaint, and the call summary shows that he had a personal interest in doing so. Add Barr to the list of impeachment witnesses.

There may be many others. Last night on Fox News, Giuliani held up a phone he said included messages with official authorization for his activities. “You know who I did it at the request of? The State Department,” he said. The scheme to shake down Ukraine was a massive plot, spreading through the government and corrupting multiple officials. Trump had a lot of accomplices.
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I watched Chris Hayes on MSNBC cover this last night. You can see he was so visibly shaken by the stark level of corruption in the details that came out of this redacted transcript he could hardly contain himself.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Link (there's a lot more in the article):

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/ukraine-scandal-trump-phone-call-giuiliani-pence-barr-mulvaney-impeachment.html

[onetexan]

2. thank u Muriel, i thought i had posted it. Will udpate the posting now.

[HootieMcBoob]

3. subpoena the phone

The minute I saw that I said out loud that they need to subpoena Giuliani's phone and Giuliani himself.

[DeminPennswoods]

6. Absolutely!

When Giuliani waved that phone aroung, he might as well have said "here's the evidence, come and get it". Talk about waving a red flag in front of a bull!

[onetexan]

9. yes, subpoena the phone records!!

[bdamomma]

13. oh that jerk

Giuliani he needs to be arrested, he's got some skeletons in his closet. He has such a big mouth, I hope they get him too. Corrupt bastards.

[Perseus]

4. The so called "America's Mayor" should end up in an "All American Jail"

What a crook Giuliani is. He has also been a con all his life, a low-life like the creature, that is why they love each other so much. No wonder he agreed to dress as a woman for the creature.

There is so much about Giuliani's past that should have never earned him that title of "America's Mayor", or whatever it was. I don't even have any idea how he made so much money as a lawyer, the man seems to not have his brain well glued to his cranium.

[NewJeffCT]

8. or maybe he thinks Flipping on Trump, Barr, Mulvaney, Pompeo and Pence

he thinks he can salvage the train wreck his career has become these past 15 years.

[bigbrother05]

11. "Lockup: Mar-a-Lago"

[Chipper Chat]

23. 😂

🎃⚽️🌞🌚⚡:ROFL:

[maxrandb]

5. Anyone in their right mind think

that this is the ONLY time Donnie Shit for Brains shook down and extorted a foreign country for his own, or his family's personal gain?

Sure... I have a bridge I'd like to sell.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

7. in addition to kissing Putin's ass ...

I wonder how much of the rancor Donnie Dumpster has shown to our allies comes from them not being willing to help him campaign.

[FakeNoose]

14. Of course not - it's a quick summary of his entire career

Chump has been doing this shit his whole entire life. Even the Repukes have to admit it now, like they could never acknowledge it before. Chump is toxic and he's going to destroy everybody as he goes down. We're watching the demise of the Repuke Party.

[BigmanPigman]

24. I bet he will try to take the whole country down on his way out.

He does not love this country and is vindictive as Hell. Look what he did to Obama and Hillary. Just like Hitler told his generals to burn Paris, tRump will do the same thing.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

20. Makes me seriously wonder what he's pulled with Boris Johnson.....

* UK/US trade deal for media and military support on Saudi/Yemen campaign, and/or
* UK/US trade deal for UK media dialog against Iran and nuclear deal, and/or
* UK/US trade deal for UK media support on American Rethug talking points.

Note that tRump has expressed support for deal or no deal Brexit numerous times. We must also remember Boris is in Rupert Murdoch's back pocket.

KY..........

[bigbrother05]

10. Exactly, Trump views himself as "The Closer", the one that seals the deal

During 2016, he publicly said "Russia please release the emails". He passed that off as rhetoric, but it confirmed he was all in without a direct conversation with Putin or his close circle. All the groundwork was laid by his minions/family and that was his close.

Jump to this cycle and his fixers laid the groundwork and the July 25 was his close with Zelensky, but this time it was a direct, one-on-one link laying out the points of the deal repeatedly in a recorded conversation.

Mueller couldn't dig out a direct link in 2016, most likely because of all the lying, but it was obvious enough that he refused to exonerate him.

Now we've got not only the documentary evidence, but an open admission by Trump and Rudy of direct pressure on a foreign leader/government to interfere with an election.

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

[onetexan]

12. Mueller was still under the thumb of Barr and the Idiot's DOJ. This impeachment is Dems control.

He and his gang of enablers will not get away with it now.

[calimary]

16. GOOD one, that Proverbs 16:18.

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

22. Not sure that applies to narcissistic psychopaths.

I think he will go down screaming his self-righteousness until the day he dies.....

[bigbrother05]

28. Actually looked it up, usually shortened to "Pride goeth before a fall"

Wanted to get the wording right and found the full reference.

That King James guy had a way with words.

[calimary]

32. Yep. That's how I always heard it said.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. The very next day, TWO US ambassadors leaned on Zelensky in person, July 26. . . . nt

[dalton99a]

18. +1

[FakeNoose]

25. Yep, however the July phone call wasn't the first one

The leaning on Zelenskyy started almost as soon as he was sworn into office. Note the timing too: Zelenskyy became President of Ukraine in mid-April. Joe Biden formally declared his candidacy on April 25th.

The pressure on Zelenskyy to "do us a favor" began almost immediately. Rudy G. went there in July, but I think he met a Ukraine official in Spain before July. I'm reading the Whistleblower's report right now.

[edbermac]

17. Yep, not a third-rate burglary.

[TryLogic]

19. Finally we are getting into the reality of the situation(s).

Pervasive corruption.

[onetexan]

31. Once all of this is uncovered the whole thing will seem even more unfathomable.

[bucolic_frolic]

21. Could be the installation of a permanent shadow government beholden to Trump

A skeleton of the pre-Trump government, and an invisible shadow to serve themselves and to serve Trump

I agree Ukraine scandal is the tip of the iceberg

Rudy seems a lynchpin, all Trump roots from the 1920s go through low life NYC

[KY_EnviroGuy]

26. I feel that's what we've had for decades and....

the "shadow" controls all Rethug politicians, not the other way around. Trump just can't keep his mouth shut and uses the shadow system for his personal aggrandizement and financial gain but is too narcissistic to keep it under his hat.

The right-wing shadow deep state consists of:

1. A vast system of right-wing think tanks (Heritage, ALEC, AEI, PNAC, etc.) that are known to have direct White House and Congressional Republican leadership communications,
2. A vast network of public and social media corporations and groups, and
3. Untold numbers of hard right-wing ultra-wealthy people with secretive contacts in government that pour billions into the above think thanks and into Republican election coffers (sometimes outright buying of elections).

When Rethugs are in power, this system goes into high gear to write legislation and create political dialog for media that helps brainwash the public. When they're not in total control, they simply go into R&D mode to recharge and rebuild their coffers. The general public has little or no knowledge that this massive system even exists.

One powerful piece of evidence that this system exists and is somehow networked is the behavior of Rethug politicians in that they almost never speak against the system or criticize any right-wing organization, person of wealth or other right-wing politician (U.S. or international) out of pure, raw fear.

I suspect the usefulness of Trump to the system has expired.

Rant done, 'nuff sed.

[bucolic_frolic]

27. True and valuable post

and that network will emerge intact after Trump. Trump used parts of it, but also has his own thing going.

i don't participate. They don't make much from me. But some would not call this living.

[onetexan]

30. K&R

[triron]

29. It is. eos

[Skittles]

33. he has been doing it since day one

oh yes