Posted on 09/22/2019 5:12:08 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
President Trump is pushing the limits on how much Congress will tolerate of a president using his office to target political rivals.
Why it matters: Ukraine is reportedly at the center of a whistleblower's concerns over Trump's contact with a foreign leader, the WashPost and N.Y. Times report.
The phone call: Trump reportedly urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "about eight times" to cooperate with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on investigating Joe Biden's son Hunter, the WSJ reported Friday afternoon.
The whistleblower: While few specifics are known about the whistleblower complaint, Trump's call with Zelensky was two weeks before the issue was raised. Per the Post, Trump made a "promise" that troubled a member of the intelligence community.
The standoff: Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire and the Justice Department have blocked Congress from accessing that whistleblower report, despite an intelligence community watchdog's referral.
The pressure: “Of course I did," Giuliani told CNN last night, when asked if he's pressured Ukraine on investigating Biden. Giuliani later tweeted that a "President telling a Pres-elect of a well known corrupt country he better investigate corruption that affects US is doing his job."
The money: The Trump administration has been withholding $250 million in aid for Ukraine that's meant to deter Russia. In July, Trump told Zelensky that the key to improving ties was Ukraine investigating corruption.
Between the lines: It's not clear that this example provides a reasonable case for investigation into the Biden family, as JustSecurity noted earlier this month.
"Trump and Giuliani allege, contrary to evidence, that Biden improperly pressured the Ukrainian government in 2016 to fire then-Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in the midst of a corruption investigation of one of Ukraine’s biggest gas companies, Burisma Group. Biden’s youngest son, Hunter, was serving on the company’s board at the time."
"But the prosecutor ...was the target of pressure by Ukrainian anti-corruption advocates and a host of international supporters of Ukraine, who argued he should be fired for failing to pursue major cases of corruption."
"And it was the widely known and publicly espoused position of the U.S. government ... that the prosecutor’s ouster was among crucial anti-corruption measures that the Ukrainian government needed to take."
The other side: "Several former officials in the Obama Administration ... insisted that Hunter’s role at Burisma had no effect on his father’s policies in Ukraine, but said that, nevertheless, Hunter should not have taken the board seat," The New Yorker reported earlier this year.
What's next: Zelensky is among the world leaders with whom Trump is slated to meet next week at the UN General Assembly.
Expect Democrats to keep pushing for more information on the whistleblower report, as well as for more details on Trump's phone calls.
"If it's true that the president requested that the president of Ukraine interfere in an American election, we are in really dangerous, brand new territory," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told the WashPost's Bob Costa today.
The bottom line: “It doesn’t matter what I discussed but I will say this, somebody ought to look into Joe Biden," Trump told reporters Friday.
Biden's response: "Not one single credible outlet has given any credibility to his assertion. Not one single one and so I have no comment except the president should start to, ah, be president."
Axios = New Fake News Web Site
Axios is there to make up for losses at NY Times and Washington Post. They are fake news.
Sources = We Made It Up
Nooos! Not “defiance “!
LOL!
Investigating a candidate is OK, but only if it’s Trump...
These idiots don’t think.
Trump’s defiance is absolutely justified!
The Real Foreign Collusion Occurred Between Pro-Clinton Ukrainians And The DNC
At a 2017 briefing, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said:
“If you’re looking for an example of a campaign coordinating with a foreign country or a foreign source, look no further than the DNC, who actually coordinated opposition research with the Ukrainian Embassy.”
Very few people believed her.
This garbage even after the Ukrainian President has disputed the allegations. So typical of the so called press this country now has to inform us, or more like it, misinform us.
“I heard President Trump asked the President of Harvard University to investigate whether Elizabeth Warren hurt affirmative action by falsely claiming to be an American Indian.” - anonymous whistleblower
“I heard President Trump asked the Attorney General to look into Bernie’s wife’s bank fraud.” - anonymous whistleblower
As long as it’s framed as Trump did something wrong, they will cover any topic.
Missed opportunities...
“I heard President Trump had someone murder Seth Rich.”
“I heard President Trump requested guns to be run through Benghazi”.
“I heard President Trump sealed all of Obama’s records and his birth certificate.”
“I heard President Trump funded the inventory for fast and furious gun smuggling.”
Some might be too far out of date, but if you want the press to talk about something and maybe even investigate, blame Trump.
“I heard President Trump asked the President of Harvard University to investigate whether Elizabeth Warren hurt affirmative action by falsely claiming to be an American Indian.” - anonymous whistleblower
“I heard President Trump asked the Attorney General to look into Bernie’s wife’s bank fraud.” - anonymous whistleblower
As long as it’s framed as Trump did something wrong, they will cover any topic.
Missed opportunities...
“I heard President Trump had someone murder Seth Rich.”
“I heard President Trump requested guns to be run through Benghazi”.
“I heard President Trump sealed all of Obama’s records and his birth certificate.”
“I heard President Trump funded the inventory for fast and furious gun smuggling.”
Some might be too far out of date, but if you want the press to talk about something and maybe even investigate, blame Trump.
VP Biden is on video blackmailing the Ukrainian to protect his son from investigation.
That is the story here.
Wait, Ukraine?
I thought it was Russiarussiarussia?
look up Sue Gordon, she quit at the right time to be the BLOWER...
Does anyone else find it funny how the news insists on pushing an anti-Trump stories the hardest after the story has collapsed?
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