House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) indicated in an interview with the Washington Post Tuesday morning that his committee might be interested in hearing from the U.S. diplomat who objected to what appeared to be a quid pro quo during the early stages of the ever-evolving Ukrainian scandal.
This is what smart people do… Get into writing, contemporaneously, what was said, so that there’s a record preserved for later.
Three (3) words, Mr. Schiff:
“Inherent.
Contempt.
Jail.”
Oh, goody. More testimony Pompeo will block, because that’s what innocent people do.
Another employee who will be told he can’t testify. Of course, Trump’s conversation was perfect, no quid pro quo and all that bullshit.
Not all smart people, how many of these do we have from the idiot in chief?
Yes.
And maybe someone recorded the phone call:
“Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?” he asked on Sept. 1.
“Call me,” Sondland replied.
On Sept. 9, Taylor texted Sondland again. “As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”
Adam, Adam, Adam, we all know what you’d like to do, you’d like to hear this guy answer questions under oath. But what makes you think there’s a chance in hell that’s ever going to happen? Do you ever get tired of making these empty pronouncements? I know we get tired of reading them. If you (and your fellow committee chairs) are as toothless as you seem to be, and you haven’t yet developed a work-around that works, then go back to doing whatever it was you were doing before you started lurching at Lucy’s football.
OK. So if Sundland is completely on board with Trump and his text about “no quid pro quo” is so reassuring to Trump, why can’t he testify? Shouldn’t his testimony help Trump?
Of course, if Sundland were to have to answer questions facing perjury, it would become clear that the “no quid pro quo” was a prearranged talking point / plausible deniability thing since it obviously was to anyone not in the cover-up loop and definitely obvious to the target of the extortion. “Do what I’m asking politely or I’m definitely NOT going to burn your house down and kill you entire family.”
There’s an avalanche of ‘crazy’ flowing right out of the WH via the press and into our homes. So much information it’s mind-boggling. It would be incredibly sad, but not surprising, if Americans, in their desperation to maintain the status quo and their adversity to progress, ignore all of it and nothing comes of this.
Schiff of course needs to give Taylor a chance to come in voluntarily.
It would be very cool if he couched it in terms stating that true patriots, who are loyal to the Constitution, should have no problem with testifying. Get those memes out there. Soundbites, too. Attention spans are short.
The difference is that the Idiot-in-Chief does it inadvertently, whereas smart people do it intentionally.
ahh…but this is different. Taylor seems to be fully aware of what was happening and didn’t like it one bit. I suspect he would be a willing witness. I don’t think they will be able to hold him back.
Angry with McGahn for telling the Special Counsel’s Office investigators that the president had tried to have Robert Mueller removed, Trump yelled, “What about these notes? Why do you take notes? Lawyers don’t take notes, I never had a lawyer who took notes.”
Trump causes rocks gratitude for the meager intelligence they possess.
I really think Taylor is different–career diplomat, sees that things are wrong. He’s the sort of witness to go after. Forget these Trump loyalists (for now, at least)–even if you get them in, then they will do their best ‘The Big Lewandowski’ impersonation and just act like a petulant child.
Realizing this won’t satisfy the political bloodlusters among us.
“A republic, if you can keep it.”
So much obstruction to cover up a “perfect” situation. It makes one lie awake every night fearing that something less than perfect might occur.
Taylor is a West Point and Harvard grad, a military veteran and a dedicated employee of the Federal government. Exactly the type of person Trump can tweet about being a stupid loser Deep State traitor.
Natasha Bertrand did a great job, as usual, laying out the texts in a helpful timeline and providing context.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/04/how-to-read-the-explosive-ukraine-texts-028139
Gotta love the brains of “Let’s stop talking about this corrupt business in writing and hop on a call.”