Trump Crosses a New Line in the Sand -- Sending the Gestapo After His Enemies

 

Carter Wrenn, former political guru to the late Senator Jesse Helms, rose up to oppose Trump's latest gross abuse of power -- siccing law enforcement on people he has a grudge against

Last Thursday night, turning on the news, I watched [John Bolton] being interviewed on TV, explaining why he thought Trump was wrong about Putin. The next morning I got a surprise: When I turned on the TV I watched FBI agents raiding John’s home in Bethesda, Maryland.

In a nutshell: John Bolton disagreed with Trump. And the FBI raided John Bolton’s home. That was political retribution pure and simple.

Because they are Trump supporters most of my Republican friends saw nothing wrong with raiding an honest man’s house. But turning the FBI into a political weapon is an abuse of power. And it’s a mistake to ignore that Trump crossed a line in the sand when he did that to punish someone who disagreed with him.

Remember the Date -- July 10, 2019 --"Detonation of the Ukraine Crisis Inside the White House"

Just try to stay up, O my brethren. It's important that we understand the architectural nuances of Trump's impeachable offenses.

July 10, 2019 -- the date that John Bolton and other White House nat'l security officials discovered just how far the Trump off-books extortion racket against Ukraine had progressed. Keep in mind that during the two full weeks that elapsed between Bolton's Blowup on this date (see below), and the Trump call to Zelensky on the 25th, Trump did not alter his course one millimeter.

July 25, 2019 -- the date of Trump's call to Ukraine President Zelensky, the phone call which prompted the whistleblower's complaint and launched the impeachment.

The Occasion on July 10th

A visit to the White House by Ukrainians Andriy Yermak, who had frequently engaged with key Trump lieutenant Gordon Sondland and other U.S. diplomats; and Oleksandr Danyliuk, the head of Ukraine’s national security and defense council. Col. Alexander Vindman told the impeachment committee yesterday, “The Ukrainians saw this meeting as critically important in order to solidify the support of their most important international partner” (according to a copy of his opening statement released to the public).

The Geography

Two rooms in the White House were involved in "the detonation of the Ukraine crisis":

First Scene: John Bolton's Office 

Yermak and Danyliuk were ushered into a meeting in Bolton’s office in the West Wing along with Gordon Sondland, Kurt Volker, Fiona Hill, Col. Vindman et al. "The American team was working through standard U.S.-Ukraine talking points, including the United States’ desire to see Kyiv crack down on corruption, when officials familiar with the meeting say Sondland went off script." "Sondland turned the conversation away from ongoing corruption probes to reviving specific investigations that were important to Trump, according to testimony from Hill and Vindman." 

Bolton "abruptly ended the meeting." He "ordered" people out of his office (as only an angry John Bolton might do it).  

As the group filed out, Sondland pulled the Ukrainians aside and instructed them to follow him to the...

Second Scene: Ward Room 

The Ward Room is in the basement of the West Wing and is regularly used for meetings by national security staff.

Col. Vindman tagged along with the Ukrainians, following Sondland to the Ward Room. Vindman in his testimony yesterday said that Sondland immediately pressed for “investigations into the 2016 election, the Bidens and Burisma.” Vindman said he then confronted Sondland in front of the Ukrainians (or later, not in front of the Ukrainians -- it's unclear), saying that “his statements were inappropriate, that the request to investigate Biden and his son had nothing to do with national security, and that such investigations were not something the [National Security Council] was going to get involved in or push.” 

Meanwhile, upstairs John Bolton knows about the Ward Room end-run and he sends Fiona Hill, his immediate deputy, down there to take charge of the meeting. Hill enters the room late, hears the word "Burisma," knows what's up, and immediately closes the meeting. 

Upstairs, John Bolton is already steaming mad. Hill comes back up to tell him what happened, and Bolton explodes with his now famous line: “I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up.” Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, had met with Sondland on several occasions to discuss Ukraine.

Paper-Trail-Bolton 

Bolton directed Hill to report what she had witnessed to John Eisenberg, the top lawyer for the National Security Council. Hill spoke briefly with Eisenberg on that very day, but because the attorney was pressed for time they did not finish their discussion until the next day. Hill was accompanied by Wells Griffith, an NSC official responsible for energy policy who is also being sought as a witness by House investigators.

The Ass Most Immediately Caught in the Crack

Gordon Sondland, who's turning out to be Trump's biggest chump, testified to the impeachment committee that "he didn’t know of any Biden connection in Trump’s demands for a Burisma investigation until much later, after the allegations in the whistleblower complaint became known. He has also said that no White House officials ever expressed any concern to him about his efforts to push Ukraine to commit to the Burisma probe."

At the same time -- in the same testimony -- Sondland also admitted that the Ukraine demands amounted technically to a scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours, a.k.a., quid pro quo.

They could charge Sondland with lying to a Congressional committee.

Footnote: Indebted to the reporting of Greg Miller for all the direct quotes

Bring On John Bolton!

Lindsey Graham in the Senate and the SCIF-stormers in the House have done their damnedest to jizz up their base against the whole impeachment inquiry. But last Thursday, right when that cooked-up Republican froth was still bubbling, the NYTimes team of Michael D. Shear, Maggie Haberman and Nicholas Fandos inserted this tidbit into an article focused on Sen. Graham:

"Impeachment investigators have negotiated in recent days with a lawyer for Mr. Bolton about a date for him to be deposed behind closed doors...."

John Bolton's gonna talk, and when he does Lindsey Graham will need grander theatrics for his next stage act -- bigger painted sets, more flamboyant costuming, good lighting -- cause John Bolton knows everything. And Trump fired him on September 10. If there's a Code Red walking case of acid reflux on this planet, it's John Bolton.

Bolton, who actually possesses a moral center, doesn't back down, which made him a problem for liberals well before he became a problem for Twitterman. Hardliner. Hawk. So he naturally recognizes a hand grenade when he sees one. To Bolton (and to his everlasting credit), Rudy Guiliani looked like a hand grenade with the pin long gone. Bolton knew every grand master chess move that Guiliani and Trump made to extort Ukraine.

Better, Bolton left a paper trail. Paper trails are part of the Bolton DNA.

1. Bolton told Alexander Vindman, who's being deposed by the impeachment committee today and who was actually on the phone to hear the infamous Trump-Zelensky "do me a favor" call, to draft a memorandum in mid-August that sought to restart $391 million in security aid that was being withheld from Ukraine. Trump refused to sign it. 

2. Bolton also told Alexander Vindman, star witness today who's also a current White House employee with the NSC, to draft a letter in May congratulating Zelensky on his inauguration. Trump refused to sign that too.

3. Bolton told Fiona Hill, a former National Security Council official in charge of Russia policy, to "brief the NSC lawyers" to make sure there was a record of her opposition to the shadow foreign policy that was putting pressure on Ukraine for "a favor."

4. Bolton told Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine, to send a first-person cable to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that expressed Taylor's assessment that it was "crazy" to extort Ukraine for political purposes.

It's always the paper trail, O my brethren, that eventually nails 'em. And these examples above are no doubt just a fraction of what Bolton was inducing and producing before he got shoved out of the White House.

Mark Groombridge, a former aide to Bolton, gave NPR the most interesting insight into Bolton's character. Groombridge said of Bolton:

"His bureaucratic skills served him very well in that there is now a paper trail, which essentially exonerates Ambassador Bolton and, in some ways, almost paints him as the hero in this. I mean, I recall the first day I joined the State Department — it was Oct. 15, 2001. And the only sort of fatherly advice Ambassador Bolton gave me at the time was, he said, 'Always get the process right. That way those who oppose you are forced to engage you on substance.' And I think Ambassador Bolton, in his capacity as [national security adviser], was doing the same thing."

Don't you want to hear what John Bolton knows? Don't you want to read what he wrote?