The Body Count -- Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Ambassador Gordon Sondland

A Reoccurring Feature on Who's Jumping Getting Pushed Off Luxury Liner Trump

Yesterday Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, a decorated Iraq war veteran on the National Security Council staff and a witness at Trump's impeachment investigation who had direct evidence about the July 25th phone call with the Ukrainian president, was marched out of the White House by security guards -- as though he had stolen a laptop. Vindman’s brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, an Army officer who also worked on the National Security Council staff and who had no connection to the impeachment, was also fired.

A few minutes later, Trump ordered Ambassador Gordon D. Sondland, the founder of a hotel chain who donated $1 million to the president’s inaugural committee and who was a key witness in the impeachment, recalled from his post as the ambassador to the European Union.

The White House made no effort to portray the ousters as anything other than reprisals. The president’s critics had warned that he would feel unbound if acquitted, and some said the dismissals proved their point. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, celebrated the dismissals, offering mock thanks to Congressman Adam Schiff. “Were it not for his crack investigation skills, @realDonaldTrump might have had a tougher time unearthing who all needed to be fired,” he tweeted.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican who voted to acquit the president but expressed hope that he would learn a lesson from the impeachment, said witnesses should not be punished. “I obviously am not in favor of any kind of retribution against anyone who came forward with evidence,” she said in Maine, according to The Portland Press Herald.

[The above draws on reporting by Peter Baker, Maggie Haberman, Danny Hakim, and Michael S. Schmidt]

The Crisis Is Ours

"Proven," But I'm Okay With It

Hear the new recording of Trump talking about his Ukrainian ambassador in April 2018. "Take her out," the president is heard saying to his henchmen, referring to Marie Yavanovich.

It's what a mobster would say. A mobster did say it.

A man who thinks like a mob boss and acts like a mob boss, and does it successfully even while president of a constitutional republic, well now -- it's discouraging to contemplate the moral and ethical compromises his followers have made.

Take Lamar Alexander for just one recent example. Very recent. Last night in the Senate, he said: "...there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven .... There is no need for more evidence to prove that the president asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter; he said this on television on October 3, 2019, and during his July 25, 2019, telephone call with the president of Ukraine. There is no need for more evidence to conclude that the president withheld United States aid, at least in part, to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens; the House managers have proved this with what they call a 'mountain of overwhelming evidence.' ... It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law...."

There was more. All by way of saying, no, I'm satisfied with the mob boss as our president and as the leader of my party, and I will not vote for more evidence and the hearing of witnesses, and I will not vote for his removal.

And does Senator Alexander's party still have ethical, moral, and constitutional values they wish to impose on the rest of the country? I personally can't wait for November to tell that party what I think of their values.

The Body Count -- Two at the OMB

A Reoccurring Feature on Who's Jumping Off Luxury Liner Trump

Two officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) resigned this year partly because of their concerns about Trump’s decision to hold up congressionally approved security assistance to Ukraine. That's according to Mark Sandy, an official at the OMB, who told the House Intelligence Committee in a private interview this month that one of the officials “expressed some frustrations about not understanding the reason for the hold” before resigning in September. The transcript of Sandy's testimony was released by the committee yesterday.

A second co-worker, an official in the legal division of the office, also resigned after offering a “dissenting opinion” about whether it was legal to hold up the aid.

Newly Elected Republican Congressman Dan Bishop Should Be Censured

Dan Bishop only just won his seat in Congress from the 9th District of North Carolina in the special election of September.

He has now distinguished himself as the first member of Congress to reveal (in a tweet, naturally) the name of the person he alleges is the whistleblower. That can only be interpreted as an effort to intimidate both the whistleblower and anyone else considering sharing the truth about what our government is doing.

For creepy, below-the-belt fondling of authoritarianism, Dan Bishop has already shown himself a bloated Trumpist. If there is no legal way to sanction such behavior, he should be condemned by every North Carolinian for the reckless exposure of a protected civil servant which could easily lead to bodily harm.

Have you, finally, Congressman, no shame?

How and Why Trump Dropped His Extortion Scheme

Volodymyr Zelensky, with his extortionist
on Sept. 25 at the UN

The Republican defense against the extortion-for-military-aid impeachment case against Trump emerged yesterday out of the mouth of the mouthiest Republican on the congressional panel:

“You have to ask yourself: What did President Zelensky actually do to get the aid? The answer is nothing. He did nothing. He didn’t open any investigations. He didn’t call Attorney General Bill Barr. He didn’t do any of the things that House Democrats say that he was being forced and coerced and threatened to do. He didn’t do anything because he didn’t have to.” 

--Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Oh.), yesterday

We'll set aside the obvious here, that trying to extort someone is the crime, whether you're successful or not. What I'm interested in is the timeline under Trump's decision to release the military aid to Ukraine and call off the demand for political dirt on the Bidens. It's pretty clear the whistleblower's whistling, along with the resulting spotlight, ended the scheme.

Timeline: How/Why Extortion Got Scotched

July 3 -- The day that Col. Alexander Vindman discovers there's an unexplained hold on aid to Ukraine.

July 10 -- National Security Advisor John Bolton cuts short a White House meeting with Ukrainian officials when Gordon Sondland says he has an agreement with Mick Mulvaney that Ukraine's president would get a meeting with Trump if Ukraine agreed to launch investigations. Thrown out of Bolton's office, Sondland nevertheless kept pressing his "drug deal" for an investigation of the Bidens. So far, the Ukrainians don't appear to know that military aid is being withheld.

July 18 -- In a secure call with national security officials, a staff member of the White House Office of Management and Budget announces there's a freeze on Ukraine aid until further notice, based on a presidential order to the budget office. How Col. Vindman knew about the freeze over two weeks earlier is unclear, but he probably knew it via John Bolton.

July 25 -- Trump talks to Ukrainian President Zelensky, complains that the Ukrainians aren't really very grateful for all the help they get from the US and asks for a favor.

August 12 -- Whistleblower files his formal complaint (though he had previously filed a draft complaint anonymously to the CIA's general counsel). He knows all about the attempted extortion of Ukraine, the holding up of military aid, and the role of Rudy Guiliani.

August 13 -- White House lawyers learn of the whistleblower's complaint.

August 14 -- Justice Department learns of the whistleblower's complaint, declines to follow up with investigation.

August ?, prior to the 28th -- There's worry in Kiev: Catherine Croft, the special adviser for Ukraine at the State Department, says two Ukrainians reach out to her to ask about the status of the military assistance.

August 28 -- Politico.com publishes "Trump holds up Ukraine military aid meant to confront Russia." That cat is now fully out of the bag.

September 9 -- Three US House committees launch the investigation into allegations that Trump, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and possibly others, tried to extort the Ukrainian government to help the president's reelection campaign by digging up dirt on Joe Biden and his family.

September 11 -- Trump suddenly and without explanation releases the aid to Ukraine.

November 13 -- Rep. Jim Jordan says there can't be anything wrong because Ukraine got its aid and never had to produce any dirt on Biden. So where's the problem?

Ignorance Is Bliss (And Virginia Foxx Lies By Omission)

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx recently complained, “We’re not a banana republic and things should not be done in secret. They should all be out in the open.”

She was moaning about the impeachment inquiry that's been taking depositions behind closed doors. Those depositions are suspicious to Foxx because she personally cannot attend to hear and see them.

Wait. What?

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx sits on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is one of the three committees holding the impeachment depositions behind closed doors. Both Democratic and Republican members of those committees are not only free to attend, but they can also ask questions. Friggin questions. Virginia Foxx also could but didn't and won't (especially, perhaps, since they're not offering a rolling breakfast buffet).

Her "things done in secret" might have more bite if she wasn't truant. And a liar to boot. She has the unmitigated gall to make a whine out of her own non-attendance. Her fellow North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows has certainly been there (because he also sits on Oversight and Reform). The transcripts show Meadows an active participant, asking questions with gusto.

But Foxx has excuses: “Several depositions have been scheduled when Congress is not in session and other events have been scheduled in North Carolina. Others have had their time changed, conflicting with other responsibilities in Washington, including my work as Republican Leader on the Education and Labor Committee,” she tweeted (since deleted).

Can we get real here, Congresswoman? You're not there in deference to the age-old superstition, "If I don't see it, it doesn't exist." You're in a graveyard at midnight and the moon is full, and what do you do? You keep your eyes on the ground immediately in front of you and look neither left nor right. And you might even whistle, to keep your concentration.

Foxx is like a lot of Trump's support. Willfully ignorant in an effort to keep her difficult balance in the high noon sun.

The Body Count -- Tim Morrison

A Reoccuring Feature on Who's Jumping Off Luxury Liner Trump

Tim Morrison, the top Russia official on Trump's National Security Council, who is scheduled to testify in the impeachment inquiry this morning, resigned his post in advance of his testimony. Morrison is considered a "conservative hawk," and he had been working on arms control and biodefense issues at the NSC when he was elevated to the Russia portfolio by Trump's then-national security adviser, John Bolton. Morrison started in the role in July, overlapping with his predecessor, Fiona Hill — another witness in the impeachment inquiry — who had announced her plans to leave the White House in August.

Ambassador Bill Taylor had told impeachment investigators that Morrison had reported to NSC lawyers that unethical demands were being placed on the Ukrainian government by Gordon Sondland.

"He may have more hawkish views, but he still colors within the lines of what is normally the practice of diplomacy," said Brett Bruen, who served as the White House's director of global engagement in the Obama administration. "Tim is an example, like Fiona [Hill], of serious foreign policy people who are having a seriously difficult time navigating the unethical world of Trump's national security structure." [NPR, which first reported Morrison's departure]

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?

Frustrated Trumpist Toadies Yesterday: "Please Arrest Us To Prove How Much We Love Twitterman!"

Yesterday's mob-stunt in the halls of Congress when 20-something Republican members of the Freedom Caucus (including at least four North Carolina congressmen) forced their way into the secure room where the impeachment depositions were being conducted, and then ordered pizza while they man-spread all over the hearing room and ran off the woman who was supposed to be testifying, was evidently a feint toward getting themselves arrested by Capitol police with the hoped-for viral pop on Instagram to be titled "Brave and Upstanding Ass-Kissers of Trump Being Turned Into Martyrs for the Cause."

The Democrats didn't take the bait, let the boys have their pizza and scratch their balls, and when they were finally down to only pizza bones, the boys all left, the woman witness came back, and the deposition continued.

It wasn't exactly the Boston Tea Party nor even the Defenestration of Prague (when furious Protestants threw three stubborn Catholics out of the 3rd floor window of the Prague town hall and thus started the 30 Years War).

Two NC congressmen were prominent in the mob -- Mark Walker and Mark Meadows -- but someone said Ted Budd and David Rouzer were also there. Where the hell was Virginia Foxx? Was the mob action too butch for her?

The Body Count -- Jon A. Sale

A Reoccuring Feature on Who's Jumping Off Luxury Liner Trump

Two weeks ago Rudy Guiliani hired high-powered attorney Jon Sale to head up his legal team. Sale insisted at the time that his new client "100 percent did not do anything illegal.” That odd locution was reported by law.com. Yesterday, Rudy Guiliani announced that he intended to defy all subpoenas -- "I ain't saying nuttin to nobody!" Jon Sale announced later on that same day that, by the way, he is no longer a part of Guiliani's legal team.

Did a few percentage points come off that claim of 100 percent innocence?

Sale himself came up with an implausible excuse, as relayed by BuzzFeed reporter Zoe Tillman: "He said he was brought on by Giuliani for the sole task of responding to Dems' subpoena, and that task is done so the representation is over. This was the plan from the start, he said. He doesn't know if Giuliani has other counsel."

Uh-huh.

High-priced white-collar-crime specialist is hired for just two weeks to respond "No!" for Guiliani to the impeachment inquiry?  I don't buy it.

Who is Jon A. Sale
He's a leading criminal defense attorney, specializing in white collar crime. He's "of counsel" at the large Nelson Mullins firm in Miami. He is touted on the Nelson Mullins website: 

"He is experienced in representing corporations and individuals in grand jury investigations and diverse and complex criminal litigation, including large scale document reviews and productions. He also is experienced in representing defendants at sentencing hearings. He has represented clients in almost every substantive area of concentration, including health care fraud, securities fraud, financial institution fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, money laundering, criminal anti-trust violations, tax fraud, mortgage fraud, and various fraudulent investment schemes."

He seems made in heaven for the Rudy Guiliani we've all come to know.

Sale is more widely recognized for his past well known role as an assistant special Watergate prosecutor under special prosecutors Archibald Cox and Leon Jaworski, so you might say he has experience with White House appendages that defy subpoenas.

Have No Fear -- Jared Is Here!

With son-in-law Kushner in charge of protecting Twitterman from impeachment, Trumpists can sleep soundly, no?

The little known role of Jared Kushner in the smooth-as-silk defense of his father-in-law gets revealed in the final paragraph of Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni's behind-the-scenes write-up, "Inside Trump's Botched Attempt to Hire Trey Gowdy":

"Mr. Kushner, who aides said had been spending many hours on impeachment as part of his broader portfolio of defending the president, has told some people he is running the inquiry response and played down that idea with others."

Sometimes Jared is just sooo modest!

Gordon Sondland -- A Key Player in the Attempted Extortion of Ukraine.

The nine-hour deposition given by former special envoy Kurt Volker yesterday, combined with the trove of text messages Volker turned over to the three House committees heading up the impeachment inquiry, throw harsh light on a particular Trump henchman.

Gordon Sondland of Portland, Oregon, Trump's ambassador to the European Union, bought his ambassadorship by contributing $1 million to Trump's inauguration. Sondland is a wealthy hotel owner (primarily expensive establishments on the West Coast) and -- commendably -- a successful promoter of TV and film production in Oregon -- with no discernible expertise on Ukraine or its neighbors, yet he was in the thick of manipulating the new president Zelensky to do as Trump wanted. Trump's phone call with Zelensky on July 25 was actually far from the first time Zelensky had heard "Do us a favor."

(FWIW Wikipedia includes this interesting nugget: "Sondland initially supported Donald Trump, but cancelled a fundraiser and repudiated Trump for his attacks on Khizr and Ghazala Khan," in April 2017. Apparently, Sondland got over it, and Trump obviously forgave him. Trump nominated Sondland to his ambassadorship in March 2018.)

Sondland Named in Whistleblower Report

The whistleblower report mentions Sondland by name and claims he met twice with Ukrainian officials along with Kurt Volker, the State Department’s special envoy to the Ukraine, to help them “understand and respond to the differing messages they were receiving from official U.S. channels on the one hand and from Mr. Giuliani on the other.” The report also mentioned Volker and Sondland advised Ukrainian officials “how to ‘navigate’ the demands that the President had made of Mr. Zelenskyy.” (Jeff Manning, The Oregonian)

Kurt Volker, yes, as special ambassador to Ukraine, but Rudy Giuliani? Private citizen Giuliani? Who was also Donald Trump's personal lawyer? He was leaning on Zelensky's government hard, and Volker (however reluctantly) was trying to help talk Zelensky into doing what Giuliani demanded. Why was Sondland involved? He's Ambassador to the European Union ... and Ukraine is not a member of the EU. What else could Sondland be doing in this other than giving State Department cover for Giuliani the Muscle Man to get the goods?

Giuliani and Sondland didn't just want a Ukrainian investigation into the Bidens; they were also pushing an investigation into "a completely unfounded attempt" to link Ukraine to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee network in 2016. Sondland was insisting that Trump would only be happy (happy enough to invite Zelensky to the White House and release the frozen military aid) when Zelensky publicly announced he was launching a probe that would presumably bury Joe Biden. Volker even drafted possible language for that announcement and shared it with Sondland.

Zelensky Appears To Cave to Trump

Sondland referred to the Zelensky capitulation -- a public announcement of investigations launched -- in almost comic gangster style: “I think potus really wants the deliverable.” For those of you who don't know, that's POTUS with the MOSTEST, who always wants more and more. Does that look like quid pro quo DNA to you?

Kurt Volker leaving closed-door hearing yesterday,
after turning over text messages between himself
Gordon Sondland, and Bill Taylor.
Photo Jose Luis Magana/AP

A little over a month ago -- my! how a month evaporates -- by August 9, following the July 25th Trump-Zelensky smoking gun phone call and assiduous field work by Giuliani, Sondland, and Volker, Ukraine seems to have agreed to Trump's conditions, but Zelensky balked about issuing a public statement first, before the White House had set a date to invite Zelensky to Washington, because (obviously!) the Ukrainians didn't trust Trump (those wickedly worldly Europeans!).

Zelensky aide Andriy Yermak delivered the balking message on August 10 to Sondland and Volker: “Once we have a date [for visit to White House] [Zelensky] will call for a press briefing, announcing upcoming visit and outlining vision for the reboot of US-UKRAINE relationship, including among other things Burisma [the company Hunter Biden worked for] and election meddling in investigations” [the Trump myth that really it was Ukraine that meddled in our election in 2016, not Russia].

That Zelensky announcement never happened, incidentally, nor did the invitation to the White House ever land in Zelensky's mailbox. Somewhere, somehow, everything went ker-blooey.

Sondland Wakes Up To His Criminal Exposure

It was career diplomat Bill Taylor, technically the interim chargé d'affaires in Ukraine which currently makes him the top U.S. diplomat there until Trump nominates someone to take the place of the recalled Marie Yovanovitch -- it was stand-up guy Bill Taylor who made Sondland gulp twice about what they were involved in -- the extortion of a sovereign nation for the benefit of Trump. Sondland's effort to cover his ass is fairly pathetic.

September 1: Bill Taylor, Ambassador to Ukraine: "Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?" Translation: Are we seriously talking quid pro quo?

Sondland replied: "Call me."

September 9: After that call, Taylor: "As I said on the phone, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign."

Sondland, in one of the great moments in post-Nixon get-this-on-the-record as a non-denial denial: "Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump's intentions. The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo's of any kind." Sondland continued, "I suggest we stop the back and forth by text."

Oh yes, Trump had been crystal clear, but it wasn't the way Sondland now claimed. And indeed, Sondland's fear that all this shit would inevitably come into public view has indeed come into public view.

The Body Count -- Rick Perry

A Reoccurring Feature on Who's Jumping Off Luxury Liner Trump

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, a contender along with Trump in 2016 for the presidency and one of Trump's longest serving cabinet members, will be leaving his post as Energy Secretary by the end of November.

Not known as a rocket scientist, Perry has been implicated in the Ukraine extortion scheme because he attended last May President Zelensky's inauguration (in place of VP Pence). So far no evidence has emerged of his joining the pressure campaign on Zelensky to dig up dirt on the Bidens, but "Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Perry on Tuesday asking him what instructions Trump gave him when the Cabinet official flew to Ukraine in May, as well as who asked Perry to go there in the first place. And three House committees on Monday issued a sweeping subpoena to Trump's personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, in part seeking documents related to Perry" (Dino Grandoni).

Perry will not be missed at the Energy Department. He's been a great promoter of fossil fuels (particularly coal).

Vice President Pence: Out of the Loop, But in the Soup

The piety of a willing tool

The blindness that comes from piety!

Even as evidence mounts that Vice President Pence has been fully involved in Twitterman's pressure campaign on Ukraine to squeeze out some juicy dirt on Joe Biden, Mike Pence has begun channeling Sergeant Schultz. "I never knew..., I never read..., I never heard.... In short, I know nothing!" It's now become his badge of Christian honor to declare that he was out of the loop (a place where a lot of other officials in the Trump administration wish they resided).

Trump had been planning to send Pence to Ukrainian President Zelensky's inauguration in May, then abruptly instructed him not to go, denying the new president the symbolic blessing of the highest echelons of the Trump administration. The pressure campaign was underway.

On July 25th, Trump delivered his "I need a favor" demand to Zelensky when the latter mentioned his desire for anti-tank missles. Trump withheld the military aid, waiting for the favor, then sent Pence to meet Zelensky on September 1 in Warsaw to pound in that spike a little deeper. With great rueful piety (we feel sure), Pence informed Zelensky that hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid to Ukraine was not going to be released "amid concerns about the country’s lagging efforts to combat corruption" (Greg Miller, Greg Jaffe, and Ashley Parker).

Do you think Zelensky didn't know what "corruption" referred to in that context, especially given Trump's spelling it out in the July 25th phone call?

Do you think Pence didn't understand the message he was delivering?

Pence wants you to think he's a pious idiot, in which event you should also think him totally unworthy to hold any public office, let alone the office of Vice President in charge of delivering Trump messages.

The Master Chef in the White House

Indebted to Toluse Olorunnipa and Ashley Parker for this gem:

Behind the scenes, the president is sounding out a range of advisers for different options, speaking to friends, outside confidants and Republican lawmakers to get advice about how to proceed, according to a senior administration official.

“There are different ways to bake the cake, depending on what sort of cake you want,” the official said. “Different flavoring, different temperatures, different ingredients yield different types of cake, and the president as the master baker is testing recipes and deciding what type of cake he wants.”

Richard Burr Targeted by Conservative Republican TV Ad

Here's the ad being run by Republicans For the Rule of Law, a group of conservative Republicans disturbed by D. Trump's quid pro quo behavior with Ukraine. (The group includes former Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol and other prominent conservatives.) The ad is being tailored for at least 20 different Republican politicians all over the nation. Republicans for the Rule of Law legal advisor and spokesman Chris Truax said, "It is no longer about whether Republicans believe President Trump or whether they support his policies. It’s about whether they support his admitted abuse of power and his efforts to secure a foreign government’s help in an American election. President Trump sees nothing wrong with his behavior. In fact, he’s proud of it. The question now is, are Republicans?”

Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article235554352.html#storylink=cpy

The Body Count -- Kurt Volker

A Reoccurring Feature on Who's Jumping Off Luxury Liner Trump

Kurt D. Volker, Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, abruptly resigned late yesterday.

He was mentioned in the whistleblower's filing as one of a couple of State Department officers who were trying to “contain the damage” by advising Ukrainians how to navigate Trump/Giuliani’s pressure to find dirt on the Biden family.

NYTimes describes him as "a widely respected former ambassador to NATO." He was working only parttime as an unpaid special envoy to Ukraine. Yesterday, he reportedly "concluded that it was impossible to be effective in his assignment given the developments of recent days."

Mr. Volker facilitated an entree for Mr. Giuliani with the newly elected government in Ukraine, acting not at the instruction of Mr. Trump or Mr. Pompeo, but at the request of the Ukrainians, who were worried because Mr. Giuliani was seeking information about Mr. Biden and other Democrats and had denounced top Ukrainian officials as “enemies of the president.”

Because Volker reached out to him on behalf of the Ukrainians, Guiliani has used that as the justification for claiming he was always "working for the State Department" when he was skulking around Ukraine.

“Kurt was one of the good ones who went in to the administration to stave off disaster,” said Thomas Wright, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “They all have to speak out now about everything they know and let the chips fall where they may.”

It's always "the good ones" who die first. I've seen that movie before.

How To Tell a Mobster From a Mere Tyrant

Here's what a mob boss does: He swings his dick.

That telephone call to Zelensky?

Dick-swinging.

"I need a little favor." Get me dirt. I just need enough to destroy my rival.

Our very own American mob boss had been softening up the Ukrainians for months. Well before the impeachment call, Trump had called to congratulate Zelensky on his election, while also tasking him in the same breath with certain "investigations into corruption." Zelensky knew exactly what he was talking about.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Mr. Yuriy Lutsenko, had told mob Consigliere Guiliani that he thought Joe Biden's son Hunter, who sat on the board of directors of Ukraine's largest gas company for five years, might have benefitted from graft. Guiliani ran with that, and both he and Trump started rattling cages: "Somebody needs to investigate Biden, because sure as there's a nose on your face, Joe Biden during his tenure as vice president had pressured the Ukrainian government to fire a previous Prosecutor General because that prosecutor was pursuing the corruption of Hunter Biden." That's the mob story.

That's a false story. The owner of the big gas company had come under scrutiny for possible abuse of power and unlawful enrichment, "but Hunter Biden was never accused of any wrongdoing in the investigation" (Michael Birnbaum et al.). Lutsenko, the Guiliani-enabler who may have started the whole Ukrainian fiasco by blabbing a bunch of bullshit to Guiliani, in an interview just today admitted that Hunter Biden had not run afoul of any laws in Ukraine. 

Don't you love irony: In point of fact, Joe Biden had sought the ouster of that previous Prosecutor General for "not sufficiently pursuing corruption cases."

A mob boss labels a whistle-blower “almost a spy,” waxxing nostalgic for the good old days when you could just take 'em out and hang 'em.

To the mobster, a spy is a rat, a turncoat, a traitor ripe for rubbing out. To the mere tyrant, a spy might be a person who at least deserves some respect as an acknowledged adversary, even as you march him out to be shot. A mob boss feels no respect for anyone outside the family.