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Führer Trump’s Impeachment Inquiry Thread. Update: The Senate completes the coverup

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Pentagon Letter On Ukraine Nixes Trump Excuse For Withholding Aid

A newly uncovered letter from the Pentagon debunks one of President Donald Trump’s excuses for delaying aid to Ukraine in late July.
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Pentagon’s Letter About Ukraine Torpedoes Trump’s Excuse For Withholding Aid


A newly uncovered letter from the Pentagon debunks one of President Donald Trump’s excuses for delaying aid to Ukraine in late July.

On Monday, Trump suggested he had withheld the aid to Ukraine only because he wanted to make sure the funds weren’t going to a corrupt government.

“If you don’t talk about corruption, why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt?” Trump said.

But a letter from the Defense Department sent to Congress in May, first obtained by NPR, shows that the Pentagon had “certified” that Ukraine had taken sufficient measures to combat corruption and was therefore was eligible for aid–before Trump’s call.

“On behalf of the Secretary of Defense, and in coordination with the Secretary of State, I have certified that the Government of Ukraine has taken substantial actions to make defense institutional reforms for the purposes of decreasing corruption, increasing accountability, and sustaining improvements of combat capability enabled by U.S. assistance,” wrote John Rood, the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy.

On Tuesday, Trump had changed his excuse for delaying the aid, telling reporters he had done so because he wanted “other countries to put up money.”
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Whistleblower Complaint Also Raises Concerns About How WH Handled Ukraine Call

The whistleblower complaint raises concerns about more than just an apparent “promise” President Trump made during a call with the president of Ukraine in July
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Whistleblower Complaint Also Raises Concerns About How WH Handled Ukraine Call

The explosive whistleblower complaint at the center of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry raises concerns about more than just an apparent “promise” President Trump made during a call with the president of Ukraine in July, The New York Times reported.

According to two people briefed on the complaint who spoke to the Times, the document also raises concerns about how the White House handled its records of the call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The whistleblower reportedly points out several White House officials who observed Trump’s behavior and could help corroborate the points made in the grievances outlined in the complaint, according to the Times.

The document was finally delivered to Congress on Wednesday. Several Democratic lawmakers have called for the complaint to be made public. The complaint reportedly centers on Trump’s call with Zelensky in which he reportedly pressured the Ukrainian president into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden, believed to be one of Trump’s top political rivals.

Both Trump and Zelensky denied that Zelensky was pressured and the White House released its version of the call on Wednesday. In the memo, Trump asked Zelensky for a “favor” when the Ukrainian president broached the topic of military defense weapons. He also repeatedly asked Zelensky to work with the U.S. attorney general to look into Biden and help discredit special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
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Whistleblower In Tentative Agreement To Meet With Congress

The DNI whistleblower has reached a tentative agreement to meet with Congress, should Maguire approve security clearance for the whistleblower’s lawyers.
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Whistleblower In Tentative Agreement To Meet With Congress


The DNI whistleblower has reached a tentative agreement to meet with members of Congress, should acting DNI Joseph Maguire approve security clearance for the whistleblower’s lawyers.

According to CNN, House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) leaned on Maguire Wednesday to push him to approve the clearance.

The whistleblower’s complaint was declassified Wednesday night but has not yet been released publicly.

Lawmakers have not yet been told the whistleblower’s name or where he works in the government.

The whistleblower’s complaint, centering on President Donald Trump’s interactions with Ukraine, touched off revelations about Trump trying to force an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden that led to an impeachment inquiry.
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NYT: July Call Was Not First Time Trump Coerced Zelensky

Trump called Zelensky on April 21, just after he’d won reelection, to push him to work with lawyer Rudy Giuliani to root out “corruption.”
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NYT: The July Call Was Not The First Time Trump Pressured Zelensky To Work With Giuliani


President Donald Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 21, just after he’d won his election, to push him to work with lawyer Rudy Giuliani to root out “corruption,” according to a new report.

The New York Times reported that part of Trump’s obsession with the country stems from his belief that Ukraine was involved in the start of the investigations into Russian election interference in 2016 and the Trump campaign’s potential involvement. His ire was first stoked by the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine releasing damaging documents on money earmarked for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort by a Russia-aligned party in Ukraine.

Trump held that distrust close after a delegation of Americans went to visit Zelensky at his inauguration, dismissing their positive reports.

“They’re terrible people,” Trump said of Ukrainian politicians. “They’re all corrupt and they tried to take me down.”

He clung closer to his belief that Ukraine was out to get him as investigations into his interactions with Russia ramped up.

Now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has launched an impeachment inquiry, based on Trump’s interactions with Zelensky and his attempts to strong-arm him into manufacturing dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, to aid his 2020 campaign. During his July 25 call with Zelensky — based on a White House memo of the call — he reminded the Ukrainian leader of all the help the United States had given his country, before segueing into pressuring him to investigate the Bidens.
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Report: Ukraine Dirt Scandal Began As Search For Manafort Pardon Rationale

The effort by President Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani to dig up dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden began as something else — a search for a rationale to pardon former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort…
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Report: Ukraine Dirt Scandal Began As Search For Manafort Pardon Rationale


The effort by President Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani to dig up dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden began as something else — a search for a rationale to pardon former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, the New York Review of Books reported Wednesday.

The report was based off of records provided by someone who’d participated in Trump and Manafort’s joint defense agreement, according to NYRB. The records include notes of conversations that included Giuliani, who’s led the charge for dirt in Ukraine and elsewhere.

Per the report, Trump and Manafort’s legal teams had at least nine conversations related to the effort, aimed at providing a pretext for a pardon. The conversations ranged from the early days of Trump’s presidency to as recently as May.

While there was no formal agreement that Trump would pardon Manafort, NYRB reported, Manafort was encouraged by Giuliani’s public efforts to dig up dirt in Ukraine.

Per the report, Manafort’s team provided Giuliani with information to smear two people:

One of them, Serhiy Leshchenko, is the former parliamentarian, journalist and activist who publicized the secret “black ledger” of off-the-books payments from former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych’s political party that led to Manafort’s ouster from the Trump campaign.

The second, Alexandra Chalupa, is a Ukrainian-born DNC consultant who researched Manafort during the 2016 elections but, contrary to what NYRB reported that Manafort believed, was not involved in the ledger revelation.

“Acting in part on Manafort’s advice,” the report said, then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also pressed reporters to cover “the Democrat National Committee coordinated opposition research directly with the Ukrainian Embassy,” a task conservative outlets took up.
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Schiff Opens Maguire Hearing On The Offensive

Schiff gave a detailed depiction of Trump’s strong-arming of Zelensky, segueing into the ways that Maguire seemed to aid and abet this behavior.
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Schiff Opens Hearing On The Offensive, Listing Maguire’s Questionable Behavior


House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) opened Thursday’s hearing with a detailed depiction of President Donald Trump’s strong-arming of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, quickly segueing into the ways that acting DNI Joseph Maguire seemed to aid and abet the coverup of this behavior.

“In the limited interactions we have had since you became Director of NCTC, you have struck me as a good and decent man,” Schiff said. “Which makes your actions over the last month all the more bewildering.”

Schiff listed a series of questions about Maguire’s behavior, touching on his reluctance to hand over the whistleblower complaint to Congress, as required by law, and his consultation with the DOJ when Attorney General William Barr was mentioned in the complaint.

“Why you stood silent when an intelligence professional under your care and protection was ridiculed by the President, was accused of potentially betraying his or her country, when that whistleblower by their very act of coming forward has shown more dedication to country, more of an understanding of the President’s oath of office than the president has ever demonstrated,” Schiff concluded. “We look forward to your explanation.”

Maguire shifted in his seat as Schiff spoke, but remained largely stone-faced.
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DNI Won’t Say If He Discussed Whistleblower Complaint With Trump

Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire refused to say whether he’d discussed an explosive whistleblower complaint with President Donald Trump.
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DNI Maguire Won’t Say If He Discussed Whistleblower Complaint With Trump

Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire refused to tell the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday whether he’d discussed an explosive whistleblower complaint with President Donald Trump.

During Maguire’s hearing, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) asked the acting DNI if he’d spoken to Trump about the whistleblower complaint, which details both Trump’s attempts to get foreign government to interfere with the 2020 elections and the ways in which the White House lawyers attempted to bury information about the infamous call with the president of Ukraine.

“My conversations with the President, because I am the director of national intelligence, are privileged and it would be inappropriate for me, because it would destroy my relationship with the President in intelligence matters, to divulge any of my conversations with the President of the United States,” Maguire said.

“But just so we can be clear for the record, you are not denying that you spoke to the President about this complaint?” Himes asked.

“What I’m saying, congressman, is that I will not divulge privileged conversations that I have as the director of national intelligence with the President,” Maguire responded.

The acting DNI denied that the White House had asked him to assert executive privilege.
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