Former Special Envoy for the Ukraine crisis Kurt Volker outlined in detail for impeachment investigators how Rudy Giuliani pressured the Ukrainian government to help President Trump politically, his newly released testimony shows.
“My opinion of Prosecutor General Lutsenko was that he was acting in a self-serving manner, frankly making things up, in order to appear important to the United States, because he wanted to save his job,” Volker added.
Funny … that’s my opinion of Trump. Except it’s not his job so much that he wants to save, as it is his freedom and his ass.
CNN is reporting that Volker is saying there was no “quid pro quo” because, even though the US had stopped providing military aid, the Ukrainians “hadn’t noticed yet.”
Good luck using that argument, guys. Hundreds of millions of dollars disappear and “nobody noticed”.
Schiff said the depositions have been conducted in secret so the witnesses wouldn’t be able to coordinate their testimony…
Portions of the transcript of Volker’s testimony was leaked to the conservative Washington Examiner the day before Gordon Sondland…
Even while the hearing was going on,” Schiff says, “some Republican members were pushing out text messages, and doing so in a misleading way.”…
So Thugs-R-Us will Lie, Cheat, Steal, Manufacture Dirt and break the laws to win elections AND defend the indefensible!
I’m picturing all of these losers in that old Wendy’s commercial…
“Is next: Jailvare (Clap…clap…clap)”
Anyone who has anything to do with Trump, Giuliani ,Ukraine and on and on all falls into my beliefs.
"Some people are like Slinkies, they aren’t really good for anything…but giving them a push down the stairs still brings a smile to my face!’
Ya they Noticed
They folded like a guy with a pair of two’s
The very end of the transcript ends with Volker feeling that he has to bring up something he sees as critically important, and his entire statement on it is redacted. That’s really interesting…after he was done he brought up something he thought was missed, which says a lot about the veracity of his testimony.
And again, the QPQ is immaterial to the bribery attempt Trump made against the Ukrainian president.
Now that some land amended his testimony, Volker is probably thinking that he should do the same.
Repetition has great power. First the witnesses were interviewed privately, most providing opening statements that were published with the news of the day of the deposition. Other information leaked out each day. Now the Deposition Transcripts are being released over a period of days or weeks. Finally the same witnesses will be under oath during the impeachment phase of the case. They will be broadcast live. Finally they will be trotted out at the impeachment trial. Each stage builds on the previous stage and strengthens the story.
If Democrats want to get really cute, they will agree with Trump. Everybody in America should read the “transcript.” They should also demand access to the full transcript Trump is keeping in the secure server.
The Republicans have been unable to put on any evidence that might raise the slightest doubt. Trump isn’t letting them introduce any contra-evidence via the fact witnesses he has told not to testify. Maybe the dumbest defense strategy of all time, or maybe there really is no contra-evidence.
Either way America will hear the house version 4 times in the next few weeks. Trump doesn’t have a version. All he can do is pound the table.
I believe the following concession by Volker is devastating:
Q: What I’m ask’ing is, is it clear to you, as it appears to be here, that Rudy Giuliani was pushing for these two investigations to serve Donald Trump’s political interests and not the national interests, not what you were doing, what Rudy Giuliani was doing?
A Yeah. In retrospect, when you see the transcript of the phone call and you hear what Rudy Giuliani has now said on television, that’s clear.
That’s Volker admitting the investigations were all about Trump’s political interests and not the national interest. Let’s see how Jordan, Gaetz et al spin that one.
Volker is exonerating himself…saying hindsight is 20/20.
I find that odd for a career diplomat not to have been able to discern this in real time.
Giuliani being involved is peculiar to even a lay person. He was constantly on Fox as well.
Sondland had no purview in Ukraine, he represented EU which Ukraine is not part of.
Yet, Volker seems to want us to believe he could not tell their roles were not in national interest?
Why is he still covering for Trump…he resigned, what is in this for him now?
That’s equivocating and it never flies. I believe Sondland’s truthful statement, the one that followed his full of shit one, made it clear that Zelensky knew that aid was not going to come until an investigation into the Biden’s was begun or announced. This mess has been sequentially moving into the truth. Most inept conspiracies do that. They work their way from total bullshit to the truth as pressure is applied to them. I’d say were at midpoint right now.
I want to know what favor the Turks performed to earn their genocidal green light against the Kurds. What favor did the Saudis perform to keep their murder of that journalist covered up? What favor did the DPRK perform to get joint exercises canceled? Basically that whole classified phone server needs disinfected with sunlight.
Sure worked in Iraq.
Volker has big hands. I bet Trump hates him.
Poor Rudy. Underbussed again.