(Aside: It would be a shame for this all to be over before this topic hits 1000 pages :-) )

dclegg:

 

(Aside: It would be a shame for this all to be over before this topic hits 1000 pages :-) )

 

We can always kick him while he's down after they jail the SOB.

dclegg:

 

(Aside: It would be a shame for this all to be over before this topic hits 1000 pages :-) )

 

I think that the saga will run for way more than 1,000 pages ................................   😐

The Washington Post - 218 House lawmakers now support an impeachment inquiry on Trump

Trump has acknowledged publicly that he asked Zelensky to investigate Biden’s son, who served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company that came under scrutiny by authorities there.

 

A roundup of the day’s events:

 

● The White House released a rough transcript of the July call between Trump and Zelensky that Democrats say confirms the need for an impeachment inquiry.

 

● The document showed Trump offering the help of the U.S. attorney general to investigate Biden and promising Zelensky a White House meeting after he said he would conduct such an inquiry.

 

● House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement that the rough transcript proves that Trump “has tried to make lawlessness a virtue in America and now is exporting it abroad.”

 

● Zelensky told reporters in New York that Trump did not push him to investigate Biden. 

 

● Trump denied that he urged Zelensky to investigate Biden. 

 

● Trump later said the White House should make public the transcript of his first conversation with Zelensky in April, after the Ukranian president was elected.

 

White House mistakenly sends Trump-Ukraine talking points to Democrats  🙃

 

In the hours after the release Wednesday of the rough transcript of Trump’s July phone call with Zelensky, the White House circulated an email with proposed talking points for Trump’s defenders.

 

Unfortunately for the White House, the email was mistakenly sent to not only Republicans but also Democratic lawmakers and their staff.

 

The message, titled, “What You Need To Know: President Trump’s Call with President Zelensky,” was quickly recalled - but not before Democrats took to Twitter to ridicule the White House over the error.

 

The New York Times - Whistle-Blower Is Said to Allege Concerns About White House Handling of Ukraine Call

New details have emerged about the intelligence officer who raised alarms about the president’s pressure on Ukraine to open inquiries that could benefit him politically.

Sept. 25, 2019

WASHINGTON - The intelligence officer who filed a whistle-blower complaint about President Trump’s interactions with the leader of Ukraine raised alarms not only about what the two men said in a phone call, but also about how the White House handled records of the conversation ...

 

The whistle-blower, moreover, identified multiple White House officials as witnesses to potential presidential misconduct who could corroborate the complaint, the people said - adding that the inspector general for the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson*, interviewed witnesses.

 

Mr. Atkinson* eventually concluded that there was reason to believe that the president may have illegally solicited a foreign campaign contribution - and that his potential misconduct created a national security risk, according to a newly disclosed Justice Department memo. ...

 

*  Mr. Atkinson is a Trump appointee

PUTIN SADDENED THAT TRUMP ASKED OTHER FOREIGN COUNTRY TO MEDDLE IN ELECTION

MOSCOW (The Borowitz Report)—Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he was “saddened and hurt” that Donald J. Trump had asked a different foreign country to meddle in a U.S. election.

“I thought when it came to election meddling that Donald and I were exclusive,” an emotional Putin told reporters. “This feels like a betrayal.”

Putin said that when he read the call summary of the phone conversation between Trump and the President of Ukraine, “I could not believe my eyes. It was just like the conversations Donald and I used to have.”

The Russian leader said that he had considered meddling in the 2020 election to help Trump, but added, “Now I’m not sure.”

“We had something special, but now that’s gone,” Putin said. “I feel so used.”

I'm getting a very bad feeling about this.  Trump's retrospectively classified the whistleblower report seen by the HIC (Dems and Reps) so they can only talk about it in vague terms.  It apparently refers to corroborating witnesses *known by the WH*.  The transcript isn't enough - but shows that Trump behaves like the gangster boss he's always been, I shudder to think what he's capable of doing to corrupt the investigation.

If this fails - I don't mean fails to have Trump convicted because it's very unlikely that's going to happen - and Trump is reelected, then a worse monster than the one the world has now will have been created.

The Washington Post - Whistleblower claimed Trump abused his office and that White House officials tried to cover it up

Read the whistleblower complaint regarding President Trump's communications with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

Click here to download the pdf.  [7 pages plus a (redacted) 2-page Classified Appendix]

EDIT or here or here

extracts:

The whistleblower alleged that Trump had solicited election interference that “includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals.”

 

“The President’s personal lawyer, Mr. Rudolph W. Giuliani, is a central figure in this effort,” the whistleblower wrote. “Attorney General [William P.] Barr appears to be involved as well” ...

 

“I am also concerned that these actions pose risks to U.S. national security and undermine the U.S. government’s efforts to deter and counter foreign interference in U.S. elections” ...

 

According to the complaint, the whistleblower was not alone in harboring concerns.

 

“The White House officials who told me this information were deeply disturbed by what had transpired in the phone call” ...

 

“They told me there was already a ‘discussion ongoing’ with White House lawyers about how to treat the call because of the likelihood, in the officials’ retelling, that they had witnessed the President abuse his office for personal gain.”

 

“In the days following the phone call, I learned from multiple U.S. officials that senior White House officials had intervened to ‘lock down’ all records of the phone call, especially the word-for-word transcript of the call that was produced - as is customary - by the White House Situation Room” ...

 

“This set of actions underscored to me that White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call.” ...

 

Kryptonite!   😐

We should start a pool on the identity of the whistleblower. My money's on Pence.

Rikkitic:

 

We should start a pool on the identity of the whistleblower. My money's on Pence.

 

... or someone working for him (Pence can't get his hands dirty in public).   😶

Rikkitic:

 

We should start a pool on the identity of the whistleblower. My money's on Pence.

 

 

 

It's a CIA officer. The New York Times is doing their damnedest to out them, which seems irresponsible considering Trump's veiled threat today.

Dingbatt:

People seem to forget who takes over if Trump is removed.

Under his eye.

Blessed day.........

MikeB4:

Dingbatt: People seem to forget who takes over if Trump is removed. Under his eye. Blessed day.........

 

Yeah that's a scary thought.

Would Pence necessarily be The Man? Or could the GOP fit up someone else?

If Donny goes and Pence takes his place I shouldn't wonder if he'll pardon Trump for all his crimes the way Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. One hand washes the other.