In Ukraine Phone Call, Alarmed Aides Saw Trouble
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON — No one bothered to put special limits on the number of people allowed to sit in the “listening room” in the White House to monitor the phone call because it was expected to be routine. By the time the call was over 30 minutes later, it quickly became clear that it was anything but.
Soon after President Trump put the phone down that summer day, the red flags began to go up. Rather than just one head of state offering another pro forma congratulations for recent elections, the call turned into a bid by Mr. Trump to press a Ukrainian leader in need of additional American aid to “do us a favor” and investigate Democrats.
The alarm among officials who heard the exchange led to an extraordinary effort to keep too many more people from learning about it. In the days to come, according to a whistle-blower complaint released on Thursday, White House officials embarked on a campaign to “lock down” the record of the call, removing it from the usual electronic file and hiding it away in a separate system normally used for classified information.
...snip...
Moreover, other officials amplified the narrative on Thursday with details that were not in the complaint. For instance, they said, at one point an order was given to not distribute the reconstructed transcript of Mr. Trump’s call electronically, as would be typical. Instead, copies were printed out and hand delivered to a select group.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/us/politics/trump-ukraine-timeline.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
= new reply since forum marked as read
Had he realized the illegality of it, he would have made the call on a different, private phone with nobody listening in. Like when he talks with Pootie, probably.
"We'll just stand back and wait for him to impeach himself."
She's one smart lady.
