“…Cummins added that when he sent the email to Berman he “wasn’t advocating for the legitimacy of any of this.”
“At the time, I didn’t know a whole lot about Ukraine. I didn’t make any real attempt to vet this,”
Certainly worth investigating, plus it’s gaseous properties are expanding to fill the emptiness of Graham Crackers head bone 
Breaking from the WaPo. If Republicans want direct evidence of Trump’s involvement, they better be careful what they ask for. We’re probably inches away from that.
Seeking an “after the fact” justification for Trump’s decision to withhold the aid says it all.
May be it would easier if we asked if there wasn’t a Republican looking for/bribing/exhorting dirt on Biden from Ukraine (aka trying to exculpate Russia/Putin) somewhere. I mean, really, this is Arkansas.
I have this problem of not taking actual crimes quite as seriously when they’re committed by people with Rudy-level clownishness going on. I understand that it is a problem because clownishness, however profound, is not a mitigating factor. If anyone else shares this problem I’d be into forming some sort of discussion group about it.
The problem is what they have come up with, bogus as the information is, is enough for the Trump cult and the Republican senators to hang their hat on even if they know it is BS. Republican senators fear the Trump cult more than they care about their oath, our government and our country. Power and reelection are their spurious motives. It is pushed and covered nonstop on Fox propaganda. Many in the public are not paying close attention, didn’t watch the hearings or read the deposition transcripts. This information is likely to confuse them. It is a sad state of affairs and doesn’t bode well for keeping our democracy or healing any divisions. We are in big trouble!
What I wouldn’t give for a modern day Daniel Ellsberg just about now.
I was damned proud of our career employees like Yovanovitch, Hill, Taylor, and Vindman, among others. But only if there was someone within Trump’s orbit with an equal measure of courage, someone willing to put their name to their statements instead of remaining cowardly Anonymous.
Well, to summarize (and no, that doesn’t make it a transcript) a key point I tried to make in a post a couple of days ago, these folks are apoplectic because they’ve basically lost the culture wars and are melting down, trying to figure out how to unring all the bells. In their collective minds, anything is okay, since “babies are dying” (and parenthetically, We Had A Black President! ).
Consider the following “losses” they’ve suffered since the 1950s:
ETA:
ETA^2 (Thanks to @kitty for the addition) :
On top of all that, they almost had to live with a female President, as well! The Howah! The Howah!
In other words, these drongos freaked out, and in the process became far more motivated to turn out, because they’ve been losing the game since the 1950s. This has allowed their Götterdämmerung to drag on a bit, but I personally believe that we’re coming up to a real “Okay Boomer” moment soon as we ramp up for the next election, where the “kids” are going to have more influence than ever before and the Trumpinistas, and all of us Boomers in general, are going to have to start accepting that our time is passing. It’ll be painful for all of us, but we will get through this. It’s just a question of how much and what remaining collateral damage we’re going to have to endure. Personally, I think the worst is behind us, but I’ve a chemical imbalance of the brain that makes me an optimist. Your Mileage May Vary…
“Really - This Too, Shall Pass…”
He is a Trump supporter as well involved un the transition. He is through and through a part of the Russian backed play to blame Ukraine for everything in the 2016 election interference, the fake black ledger and all of the rest of the nonsense.
Has anyone who voluntarily goes by the name “Bud” ever been anything other than a total dick?
They don’t believe in science, evidence, or the scientific method. They believe what they want to believe, and that’s it. End of story.
Which is why we have measles back with a vengeance, flat-earthers back in vogue, climate deniers, etc. Science is a liberal plot against God and country, don’t you know?
Point being Republicans are conditioned to believe in nonsense, and right wing propaganda is happy to offer it in spades.
As an aside, this article seems to throw Mulvaney under a car, if not an actual bus, and Pat Cipollone was in charge of this little investigation. Makes you wonder who the source for the story could have been.
Mulvaney better watch his back.
Proof the Earth is not flat: if it were, cats would have knocked all our stuff off the edge.
Bud Dwyer was a renowned marksman.
“At the time, I didn’t know a whole lot about Ukraine. I didn’t make any real attempt to vet this.” He added “I didn’t care, that wasn’t my job” in a discussion of what may have been motivating Lutsenko.
while the story mentions that Cumming “previously registered as a lobbyist for former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko”, the FARA database shows that his company, Avenue Strategies, registered as her representative in March 2018 pursuant to a contract signed with her dated Feb 20, 2018. However, that contract expired Aug 20, 2018 – but could be extended by both parties.
In other words, it looks like he was working for Tymoshenko in 2018… and was probably working for her when he went to the DoJ in Sept 2018.
Because if he wasn’t working for her, and was working on behalf of Lutsenko instead, he violated FARA…
A whole pant lode of it.
Yeah, that stood out for me too. Seems like this Trump-lovin’ former US Attorney who has mainlined every Republican conspiracy theory is afraid to face the House Intelligence Committee.
You’re a lawyer and a former US attorney, but it’s not your job to determine whether someone is trying to use you to perpetrate a fraud and violate US elections laws. Gotcha.
Also: he might have had a tiny amount of cred as non-crazy for being fired to make room for a Rove acolyte, but trump campaign office and transition team erases that and then some.
perhaps one of you all could enlighten me on Trumpfs obsession with JOE BIDEN… who seems to be a rather mild-mannered guy…is it because TRUMpf is afraid to go at POTUS OBAMA, head on…so JOE is the ‘next best thing’??? and whats with the the 'a -noun, a -verb. and 9-11 guy…is he the new fixer…why is he messing with the Foreign Service people…these NY guys are shady!!!
n
more on Cumming’s relationship with Tymenshenko…
while the contract was supposed to run six months, it was terminated after only two months (April 20, 2018), based on FARA filings…“without…engaging in political or other activities”
…