Just because you/Trump uses TV lawyers + do not listen to your TV lawyer’s advise, it does NOT mean others like the WB do not use real lawyers…who knows how to reason logically and apply the laws!
That said, the WB has three lawyers - Andrew Bakaj, Mark Zaid, and Chuck McCullough:
Bakaj was a former CIA officer and a whistleblower also
Zaid is a prominent national security attorney
McCullough is a former intel community inspector general
Bakaj: “…I have been involved in this matter from before the disclosure was made. That’s important, because it underscores the fact that this individual sought out the advice of counsel, to make sure that the disclosure is made lawfully, through established legal processes and regulations, and in compliance with the statute…”
Ugh, team orange is so freaking intellectually dishonest. As we know from Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, how the whistle is blown has no impact on the accuracy of the whistle’s pitch.
We’re at the point where they will say “Gosh, did anyone else realize that Schiff talked to a woman in a restaurant last week, and can anyone provide evidence that she wasn’t a Venezuelan prostitute/spy?” The reason why we’re at this point is that we’re in a world where everyone is looking for something—anything— to post into their fucking feed every ten seconds. Instant karma indeed.
Critical in the next 48+ hours will be to see which news outlets and individual journalists/reporters carry the administration talking points forward (and I’m not talking about FoxNews, but the other major media outlets).
So I saw on CNN that Putin thinks Ukraine call was perfectly fine and Trump is innocent. Is he trying to help or hurt the Moron? Of course, Trump will grasp at it, saying that Putin thinks he’s innocent! Vlad cannot possibly think Trump can lift sanctions at this point - unless of course he wins reelection.
I think we’re overlooking the part where the New York Times opened the door to this with its Clouds and Shadows description of the story on Twitter. That Tweet is all any of these numbnuts have looked at or ever will look at.
This is framed so as to sound sinister and conspiratorial, the better to win traffic from Trumpists looking to prove the president is the target of the deep state, but it’s actually a story about how everyone involve followed proper procedure. https://t.co/PwtRZSrapk
I absolutely concur: the whistleblower knew that he (editorially speaking) couldn’t trust the process and approached the relevant oversight body to find out how to go about it. Schiff’s aide properly sent him through the correct channels, but waited to find out whether word reached them back as it was legally required to do. I’m sure there was a phone call from Schiff’s office to the ICIG saying, “so, do you have anything you want to share with us?”
So lots of people knew Trump was doing crooked things before it became public that he was doing crooked things. The NYT is equating Dems trying to expose Trump’s crimes via a legal process with the GOP trying to cover up the crimes via an illegal process.
