The House impeachment inquiry on Tuesday released transcripts from the depositions of Mark Sandy, a top official in the White House budget office.
There should be a cape with an “S” (for Schiff or for “superb”), in the photo for this article.
Thank You, Chairman Schiff. History will be Kind to you.
Of course Trump there was a media report about military aid to Ukraine, because Trump only knows what the hell is going on if, and only if, it is covered by Fox News. The asshole can’t pick up the phone and call the DoD or SoS to ask about what the aid was for, or what it was intended to be used for. Hell I bet Trump doesn’t know that in eastern Ukraine there are US National Guard units that are training with the Ukrainian military.
it’s going to be really interesting on how mitch is going to somehow make this all seem like
“no big deal” when it lands at his feet.
MoscowMitch will just hide in his shell, but I do wonder if Mitch has a plan for when Trump goes too far?
MoscowMitch has his speech already figured out:
Trump hasn’t gone too far already???
Moscow Mitch is going to dare anyone to do anything that gets in his and putin’s way. That’s pretty much the way he’s played it before.
Nope, Mitch still has nincompoops to seat in the federal courts.
The asshole can’t pick up the phone and call the DoD or SoS to ask about what the aid was for…
The only person he’d trust to advise him is Putin.
Somehow, I get the feeling he already knows what Vlad thinks and wants; so, the phone call’d be redundant.
OMB staff recommended the hold on aide to Ukraine be lifted “on certain policy arguments,” Sandy testified.
Unfortunately, none of them were “helps Donald Trump.”
Someone should have told him that every box was stamped with “From Donald Trump” in big gold letters.
+1. He has done a bang up job. Now where are the follow-up depositions with these two who quit? Seems like subpoenas are needed.
“I heard that the President had seen a media report and he had questions about the assistance,” Sandy recalled.
Must have been Fox or CNN. I wonder what torqued Donnie the Dipshit off? Remember, he got wound up by a CNN report over a normal USN incursion into the Black Sea. He canceled it because he was concerned the Russians would be pissed off.
“…the reason for the hold on the Ukraine funds was out of concern that other countries should give Ukraine more assistance.”
And that make perfect sense. If other countries aren’t helping Ukraine, then it logically follows that the appropriate response is to punish Ukraine. It’s the only reasonable thing to do. Under the same logic we should be withholding aid to Israel any day now.
A “media report” piqued Trump’s interest about Ukrainian military aid.
“I heard that the President had seen a media report and he had questions about the assistance,” Sandy recalled.
It’s an important part of my theory of the crime that Trump had foreknowledge of Ukraine’s situation: he and Putin had already reached an understanding Ukraine was a uniquely vulnerable target, and that both men stood to gain if that weakness were exploited. (There’s a modern Russian saying: the problem with coincidence is that it’s so hard to engineer.)
I haven’t looked at the full testimony yet, but this is really one of the most important facts I’m looking for. I don’t need more proof that Trump is the one responsible for the hold, or that his motivation was treasonous. The question is whether and how his behavior reveals the premeditation that would not be present if this was “merely” an opportunistic grift or (hypothetically) innocent maladministration.
Trump is guilty. Everybody knows it. What remains to be discovered is how much of his sprawling guilt can be proven.
And of course the “other countries aren’t helping” line is complete BS too. Our European allies (if they’ll still have us) have been contributing plenty. It’s just another excuse from a president that doesn’t actually care what other countries are doing and only cares about money coming in (to his coffers).
When it comes to money, Trump is the sociopathic Monty Python Merchant Banker. Just without the wit and charm. And competence.
“Couldn’t you just send out the aid?”
“Yes, but you see I don’t know what it’s for.”
“It’s for Ukraine.”
“Yes?”
“It’s a gift.”
“A what?”
I wonder Trump felt when he learned that other he had sent to Ukraine to raise Cain also were using this as opportunistic grifting? Really my question boils down to how many grifts can a scheme hold before the girfters end up grifting other grifters?
I believe he did have a phone call with a Putin some time during this whole mess.
We really need a comprehensive timeline with all the various actions by all the players laid out.
Duffey informed Sandy of the change, explaining, in Sandy’s recollection, that he “had an interest in being more involved in daily operations” and that “he regarded this responsibility as a way for him to learn more about the specific accounts within his area.”
After all, what better place could there possibly be for a dilettante political appointee to start learning the rudiments of his job, if not on a highly sensitive national security matter of aid to an ally engaged in a shooting war, with lives on the line?
Evil and incompetence still racing neck and neck, each striving for the lead.
Call it like it is. Trump lied. He specifically made claims in public that have been convincingly contradicted by a number of career federal employees and even his own appointees. The press should be printing headlines about his lying in big bold letters every day. Enough weaseling. I dare Trump to try to sue anyone for doing so. The depositions alone would be worth the price.